Endymion
by SolanaLeonhart
Summary: Almost ten years prior to the story, Igneel saves a young boy he finds injured in a forest and takes him home. The boy becomes Natsu's second teacher and first human friend. Sometime after they meet up later, the boy joins Fairy Tail. This is the story of their adventures with their friends in Fiore's most infamous guild.
1. Chapter 1

_Right, so looking back, this story leaves much to be desired. I'm not satisfied at all and I wanted to improve things so here's the new Chapter 1. For those of you who read Endymion, please tell me if it's better than the old chapter or not. For those of you who haven't, just tell me what you think of it. I really appreciate it. Some parts might be different but the others wouldn't. It depends. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy tail.  
_

_Oh and while I'm at it, I'd like to thank Baka-Beka for all her reviews and sticking with this story. You're great, I hope you keep reading. _

_Now without further ado, I hope you like the chapter!_

* * *

A teenage boy with light brown hair that faded to blond at some parts and royal blue eyes walked down one of the streets of Magnolia. He wore a three quarter sleeved white shirt under a sleeveless black hoodie with a gold trim along with red pants and black shoes.

As he passed by the blacksmith shop, the man working there stopped what he was doing and grinned when he saw the boy. He was bald but had auburn eye brows and a similar mustache with green eyes. "Well, look who it is." The boy smiled when he noticed him and walked over to join him. "No need to ask how the job went...seeing as it's you we're talking about."

"Ah, you're exaggerating Marco-san but thanks. It did go well."

"I figured as much." The man, like so many who knew the teen, were already used to his modesty so this answer was very much expected. "So any luck on the other front?"

The boy shook his head "Your friend told me the same thing you did. I need to get the other pieces for any shot at that to work."

"And you can tell where they are?"

"Only if I'm near one but so far I'm out of luck."

"Well, I'll keep an eye out. If I hear anything, I'll let you know."

"Thank you."

* * *

"Man..." Natsu groaned as he sat down. "...Gramps can sure be uptight. That hurt."

Gray gave him an unimpressed look "What did you think he was going to do when you pretty much ruined most of his beer stock?"

"That's because you threw me into those kegs!"

"That's because you punched me!" The ice mage retorted. "Besides, you're the one who kept stomping around after that."

"Oi, you're the who froze me then!"

"I had to, ash brain! Alcohol's flammable. You could have destroyed the whole place back then."

"No, I wouldn't! I know it's flammable!"

"It's good that you do but really Natsu, you can't blame him for being careful. Your history speaks for itself." Happy deadpanned.

"See?" Gray pointed at the cat with a grin.

"Happy!" The dragon slayer groaned.

"Jeez, stop blaming me for your actions. It's times like this that make me realize how much him keeping the peace made things so much better." Gray sighed.

"Took ya long enough!" Natsu huffed.

"You don't get to talk! You're one of the people who gives him the most trouble!"

"I do not!"

"Yes you do! It's only because he's got the patience of a saint that he doesn't complain. Some best friend you turned out to be! How he puts up with you is beyond me."

"Say what?!"

This was only Lucy's second day here so she had a bunch of things to get used to. One of them being this. "I thought you were pulling my leg but really this never ends does it?"

"Aye..." He sighed. "...We've had enough time to know that it doesn't take much to start things between them."

"So who's this guy they were talking about? Does he really try to keep the peace around here?"

Happy nodded "Believe it or not, it actually works sometimes and by that I mean without any violence from him. He's off doing a job for the council. He can be a bit of a nag but that's only because..."

"Oh, really?" A new voice said and the two turned around to find the brown and blond haired boy giving Happy a look that clearly said he wasn't amused.

"Sorry for being a nag then."

Happy smiled and jumped to the boy's arms "Hope!"

The boy laughed and caught him. Happy's exclamation brought Natsu and Gray's attention to them.

"Oh, you're back. Faster than Wakaba and the others said too." Gray grinned.

Natsu snorted "Surprise, surprise. They haven't tried so they think it'll be a right pain but some of them keep underestimating Hope. You'd think they'd learn by now."

"Aye, it really is stupid," Happy nodded sagely. "Then again, they're just lazy."

"Ain't that the truth."

Hope sat down "Thanks for the vote of confidence but everything went fine. So who's your friend?"

"Oh yeah, she's Luigi! She's a new member." Natsu said.

"Hey!" Lucy scowled at him.

Hope seemed to realize what he was doing too because he just raised an eye before turning to the celestial mage "Well, it's nice to meet you, Miss..."

"It's Lucy, no need for the formalities and likewise." She told him with a smile, though she was surprised. This was the first time a male around here had been so polite to her.

"Right, I'm Hope Dreyar."

"Oh, so..." She blinked. "...hold on, Dreyar, as in...?"

"Yup, he's Master's grandson." Happy nodded.

"So that's why you were doing a job for the council?" Lucy wanted to know.

"Nah, that's just Hope trying to make a bad situation better." At her curious look, Gray explained. "You know a lot of us get into trouble with the council and all. It gives Gramps a lot of grief so Hope decided to take the jobs he can get done."

"Wow, you do that and you try to keep the peace around here? I'm impressed, that's remarkable."

Hope looked embarrassed. "Thanks, it's nothing so special."

* * *

As Lucy watched Natsu and Hope talking, she couldn't help but note that this was the calmest mood she'd ever seen the dragon slayer in.

"You make it sound so simple even when you ended up destroying half the port." Hope remarked when Natsu finished explaining everything. "I get why you were mad at Bora but there's such a thing as overkill."

"I didn't mean to! I was just too concentrated on beating that bastard up and..." Natsu blinked, noticing an upset Makarov at the bar. "So why's Gramps moaning now?"

"He said something about having to use most of the money from my request to pay for the damages." Hope responded.

"Oh... were those bandits half as they cracked up to be?"

"Nope." Hope leaned back. "All their reputation was based on some made up stories."

"So kind of like that sleaze ball?"

Hope nodded.

"Well, fake or not, at least we did get to meet Lucy so that's a definite plus." Natsu said with a shrug.

"You're right."

Lucy seemed surprised by this but she smiled at the boys.

"But you've got to! I know where dad keeps his savings. I'm sure he won't mind if I take some for this. I can reward anybody!"

Startled, the three turned around to see Romeo arguing with Makarov.

"It isn't about the reward, we don't need that. I told you before. Your dad's a fairy tail wizard. He can handle himself."

"Don't you think I know that?! But it's been so long! I'm worried, this isn't like him. What if those monsters took him out? He could be hurt and you won't even help!"

"Your father has his own pride. He wouldn't like it if we do. I'm sure everything's fine."

Romeo grit his teeth and punched Makarov. "You're a bunch of jerks! Even when those nice people tried to help, you wouldn't do anything. Whatever! I don't need you!"

"You..."

"That's enough." Natsu ground out. "Oi, Romeo, where did you say he went?"

"Oi, Natsu..." Wakaba began.

"Shut up! Where did he go?"

Hope looked at Happy, who seemed just as serious and they shared a nod before standing up.

"Lucy, you want to come?" Happy asked.

"Eh? Oh, sure I guess..."

* * *

"So, just to check, Macao went off to get rid of 20 vulcans in the mountains and he's been missing for more than days now. Romeo tried to ask about him a bunch of times and he found some people willing to help look for him but even they haven't shown up yet?"

"That's about right." Lucy nodded to Happy's question. She still didn't see how anyone could fight so many monsters off but it wasn't the time to wonder about such things. "If you ask me, the kid had a point. He's been gone for this long, someone should have helped him already."

"It wasn't that they couldn't. I think everyone was respecting Macao-san's feelings. Plenty of guild wizards take pride in their ability to finish jobs so they would be pretty offended if someone stepped in to help him." Hope explained.

Lucy frowned in thought. She still didn't like it but she supposed it made some sense now. "Well, when you put it like that..."

"It's stupid!"

Lucy and Happy started as Natsu yelled out. The dragon slayer had been a little more than irritable ever since they left the guild so they mostly left him alone. But they all knew why. Natsu's foster father, the fire dragon king Igneel had disappeared years ago and they had yet to find any clues on his whereabouts so he could really relate to Romeo.

"Okay, try to calm down." Hope patted his shoulder. "It isn't anything like that. I think they could handed things better too but that's why we're here, right? We're going to find him."

Somehow when he said that, it gave of a feeling of certainty that made them relax a little. Even Lucy and she didn't know him that well, she wondered if it was Hope believed in their success so strongly.

Unbeknownst to her, Natsu was mostly thinking along similar lines. He already knew that Hope would spare no expense in their quest and he wasn't willing to settle with anything besides success. He would get carried away at times but Hope almost always managed to keep that calm air around him, and that helped calm others too. He was right though, getting angry wasn't going to get them anywhere.

Natsu let out a breath "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"Wow, that's some storm..."

"How the heck are you so calm about this?!" Lucy demanded. While it was good that Natsu had relaxed somewhat after Hope's words earlier, this was a little too much. There was a snow storm before them and he was acting like it was nothing! "I-It's freezing!"

"Yeah well, it can't be helped with you wearing that." Natsu responded, eyeing her up and down pointedly.

"You're not dressed any better!"

"I'm a fire mage, remember? This barely affects me."

That...was actually a good point.

"Happy, you too?" She asked

"Yup! I can take it. Why didn't you get anything?"

"It's summer! I knew the mountains would be a little cold but not this much." She blinked when a warm object settled on her shoulders and realized it was Hope's coat.

The boy just smiled when she met his eyes "I took it just in case but you look like you need it more."

"Ah, wait I can't..."

"Hope, she's just complaining but she can walk. You don't have to do that." Happy flew to the boy.

"Yeah, it's not worth the trouble!" Natsu added, looking concerned.

"What do you mean by that?!" Lucy demanded.

"Hey, don't be mean. It's fine. We can't leave Lucy like this. Feeling any better?" The brunet asked.

"Y-yeah..." She stood. "..you don't have to..."

"I want to. It's all right." Hope smiled warmly. "Not to be the bearer of bad news but we do need everyone to be in good shape. At least so we can deal with what ever trouble we run into here."

After the generous offer, Lucy decided to make sure she wouldn't slow anybody up. "Okay, so should we get going?"

"We will but there's something I should do first." Hope put out an arm and closed his eyes. A faint silver aura surrounded him then, when he opened them, his eyes had turned into a silver color.

"Is that some kind of magic?" Lucy asked Natsu.

"Yup, it needs a little concentration but Hope can see into really far distances. I guess the storm's going to make it a little hard but it can help us at least figure out where to start."

The blonde nodded in understanding, mentally agreeing with this.

Hope stopped a little while later and looked at them, his eyes having turned blue again. "I haven't seen anyone but there were some footprints east so we should start there."

"Got it!"

* * *

"Th-that's huge!" Lucy exclaimed as they found the footprints.

"What, you've never seen a vulcan before? That's hardly any bigger than the ones in this area." Happy asked.

"No, just in books. Oh man...those pictures really don't do those things justice..."

"All those prints are heading up, right?" Natsu observed. "So then that thing would be hiding in some cave."

"So do we still keep going like this?" Happy asked.

"Maybe..."

Hope was about to speak but then he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Moments later, he snapped his fingers and a gold sphere of energy appeared in his palm and he proceeded to hurl it in that direction.

A yelp followed this, startling the others and the group went to find a man on the ground, cradling his head which he had bumped against the big wall of solid light that Hope had created.

"Gah! What the hell...?!" The man stopped when he saw the group staring at him. "What do you kids want?!"

"Shouldn't we ask you that?" Happy asked as they all noticed his rifle, ignoring Lucy's freak out at the sight. While he could understand her getting scared, this wasn't the time. The man must have been trying to get them just now, he was having trouble because of the bad weather.

"Who the hell are you?" Natsu demanded.

"W-we don't need you fairy tail mages getting in the way! Don't mess things up! We've got this!" The man retorted.

"Getting in whose way? We're here to look for a friend!" Happy said, looking confused.

"Oh, yeah...now that I think on it, that old guy must have been one of you, huh?"

"What? Oi, did you see Macao?" Natsu asked.

"It wouldn't matter if I did."

'What's that mean?"

"Isn't it obvious, brat? I saw someone fighting those vulcans and he told us to go before I could even tell him why we were there. We got busy with another one and next thing I know, he vanished and those stupid vulcans showed up."

"Ah! But then you're the two who offered Romeo help!" Happy realized.

Something wasn't right, Romeo made those two sound real nice and kind but something about this man just seemed creepy and fake...

"Meh, yeah that's us. We were in the red and this is our lucky break..." The man must have realized he said too many things because he promptly shut up. "This is all a misunderstanding. I'm a good guy too. I mixed you up for someone else..."

"No, you didn't." Hope interjected, having caught on his slip."You're after money, aren't you? You heard the story about Macao-san and then you thought you found a good chance. Romeo's been worried sick over his dad all this time and you guys come along, pretending to be heroes when all you want is to take every jewel you can get your hands on. You must have heard Romeo trying to persuade any of the others into action and even reward them to help."

Nobody even had to ask if this was true because the man looked like he was caught red handed with his hand in a cookie jar.

"How did you know?!" He blurted stupidly before catching himself. Clearly he hadn't expected anyone to spell their plans out so plainly.

"Ah, I mean..."

"Save it! You guys are the worst!" Lucy snapped, as her friends who glared at the man too. They were disgusted that he would take advantage of a kid like this.

"If we run into you here again, I'll beat you to a pulp. Is that clear?" Natsu snarled.

"C-c-crystal!" The man stammered.

"So, where's your partner?" Hope asked.

* * *

As the group traversed the snowy paths, headed towards the location they heard about from the man (whose name was Steiner), they were unaware that they were being followed by a figure...

Natsu stopped walking "Hey, does anybody else hear that?"

His friends looked at him, seeming confused. But Lucy was the one who understood...or rather _saw _what he was talking about.

"Look out!" She shrieked.

An avalanche was headed their way.

Natsu scowled "All right then, step back. Fire Dragon's Claw!"

The fiery waves that followed evaporated all the snow, making Lucy and Happy sigh in relief.

"Thanks, Natsu. Now we know where to go too."

Happy gave Hope a confused look "What do you mean?"

It was Natsu who answered "He means we get up there, we find the idiot behind this."

* * *

Two vulcans were in a cave, one of them was looking through a hole with an impatient look.

"Woman, woman, I want a woman!"

"Ah, shuddup!" The other snapped, throwing a rock on his head. "You're annoying. Just go find one!"

"You didn't have to do that! It really hurt!"

"That's the point! This place is freezing enough without you complaining and making it more annoying."

"You don't even live here! What made you come up to the mountains, stupid?"

"Oh, I'm stupid, you damn pervert?"

"Say what?!"

"You heard me, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

The group walked in on this scene. Happy gave them an unimpressed look "Wow...you know, guys, I sure didn't expect this. This reminds me of Natsu and Gray."

"Oi! Don't compare me to that thing!" The dragon slayer snapped. Hope stifled a laugh at this while Lucy just burst out giggling.

The blonde agreed with the blue cat, though, the fight seemed just as stupid as the one she witnessed with the aforementioned wizards.

"Woman!" The white vulcan exclaimed happily with a grin.

Lucy recoiled, looking creeped out. "What's with this thing?!"

"What's a forest vulcan doing here?" Happy wondered, staring at the second one, who suddenly stiffened.

The creature paled "H-hey, you're...! W-w-why're you here?"

Natsu raised an eye "What's with him?"

"He's probably one of the bunch Erza traumatized that time. Remember?" Hope asked.

Natsu almost sorry felt sorry for the creature when he realized what that meant. Almost. "Oh, you mean...now I'm really glad we never saw her again that day..."

"You think he followed Steiner and his friend here?" Happy wondered

"Maybe, those monsters can be pretty persistent when they want to be." The dragon slayer said.

Lucy blinked "Now that you mention it, where's..."

"I want you!" The white vulcan leaped towards her, making her shriek again.

Flames surrounded Natsu's hands as an aura of golden light surrounded Hope. The first charged up a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist to send the vulcan reeling but he pulled himself and attacked again.

"Well then, try this, Luminous Tornado!" With a wave of his hand, Hope sent a strong burst of light with great speed that slammed the vulcan to the wall.

"Nice going, you guys!" Happy cheered while Lucy almost gaped at the strength of the light spell. She'd seen plenty of evidence on Natsu's strength back when they met but it seemed Hope was not to be underestimated either.

The vulcan snarled "Are you just going to stand there?! Or are you too chicken to deal with a bunch of kids?"

"I'm not a chicken!" The second snarled. "Once I get rid of them, you're next!"

He let out a battle cry, apparently riling himself up...

Lucy scowled "I'm not just going to watch. Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee! Taurus!"

A humanoid bull holding an axe with a bell around his neck and brown boots appeared. He grinned widely, hearts appearing in place of his eyes when he glanced at Lucy. "Lucy-san, you have such a nice body! A lovely treat as always!"

"Wow, so beside the cranky fish lady Happy told me about, you've got a perverted cow?" Natsu deadpanned.

"I'm a bull!" Taurus snapped, only to be ignored.

Lucy sighed "I know what this looks like but Taurus is my strongest melee spirit. Just ignore the pervert attitude."

"That shouldn't be too hard. We've dealt with a good amount of those already." Hope remarked idly.

Natsu and Happy nodded before the first counted on his fingers "Gray, Macao..."

"Natsu, I don't think Gray should..." Hope began.

"He totally should, the stripper. Anyway, where was I?"

Happy helped him along "Wakaba, Loke, Gildarts, Master, and now Taurus. They're easy to see through and predictable."

"Gah...I'm so sad now..." Taurus' shoulders fell. "...Lucy-san's new friends are mean..."

Hope gave him an apologetic look "They're a little blunt but we could use your help right now. Er, I'm sure Lucy would appreciate it and they probably won't put you down when you show them your stuff."

The girl nodded to this, smiling.

This cheered Taurus up "Oh! In that case..."

"Oi, don't ignore us!" The vulcans snapped.

"We weren't planning to but you make it easy. You've had maybe ten chances to attack now if not more..." Hope pointed out, making the monsters stiffen as they realized it too while the rest of his friends laughed at their expressions. He was about to continue but then his eyes flashed silver, his expression changed as if he suddenly realized something.

Hope's eyes narrowed as light magic swirled around Hope's arm before he spoke again "...seeing as we can't have you running now...Aegis!"

A gold magic circle flashed around them before a dome shaped barrier enveloped the cave.

"Hope, judging by that I'm guessing it's a protection spell. Trapping us with vulcans isn't the way to use it!" Lucy said, with a tone that held panic.

"This is supposed to trap _them_." The boy responded. "Guys, we found Macao-san and Steiner's friend."

"What?"

Natsu looked just as confused but he face palmed when the answer hit him. "Aw, dammit, I forgot! Vulcans are body snatchers!"

"So they took over their bodies? How do we stop it?" Lucy asked.

"By making sure they can't keep it up. Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu's hit the white vulcan in the stomach, sending him reeling.

"All right then, take this!" Taurus swung his axe with all his might, hitting the second one and sending it crashing to the ground.

Hope started casting as the monsters got up, a gold magic circle appearing then. "Shining Torrent!"

The two vulcans were hit by a multitude of glowing waves. Taurus went up close to the enemies and struck the ground, causing it so shake and throw them off balance. Natsu and Hope capitalized on this chance.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu tackled the white vulcan, cloaked in flames.

"Star Gladius!" Hope created four swords of pure light that hit the second vulcan, sending him into the air before they flew off and struck again from four directions, creating a four pointed star shaped energy blast for a moment before the vulcan crashed to the ground with his comrade.

Taurus smirked "And for the final touch...eat this!"

He hit the two vulcans once more and landed just in front of them, looking over his shoulder in time to see them glowing.

"That did it!" Happy declared.

* * *

"Thank you, thank you!" Steiner's friend, Ross, bowed his head, his silver hair covering most of his face then. Before the man quite knew it, most of his wounds were treated and he was back in Magnolia with them. "That vulcan possessed me and if it wasn't for you..."

"Just be glad that someone..." Natsu spared Hope a pointed look "...reminded me to cut you guys a break, even if you acted like scumbags. Don't do this again."

"I got it!" He promised at once. At least, unlike Steiner, he seemed sincere. They wished he really was. "It was Steiner's idea but I shouldn't have gone along with it. We'll just have to go and get a better job. Forgive us!"

"Oh, all right..." Lucy relented. "...at least you look like you mean it. I guess you've had enough punishment after that pathetic plan. Just make sure you really sort things out next time."

"You'd better." Macao agreed with a threatening look.

"I promise." Ross nodded and left.

Macao sighed "Man, count on Hope to go that far even after what they did."

"Hey, come on, it's not like any of you would have left him in that place. Besides, my magic wouldn't have worked as well in fixing you both up if I hadn't acted quickly." The boy pointed out.

"We're saying you're too nice. If it was up to us, we wouldn't let them get off so easy." Happy said, getting agreement from Natsu and Macao.

"Well, it worked out, right? It looked like he meant it. If they haven't learned, we'll just deal with that if we see them again."

Happy considered that "True..."

"Dad!"

Macao smiled at the voice and ran to meet Romeo, who stood at the top of the stairs. The boy grinned widely and hugged him. "I'm so glad you're okay! Sorry, forget anything I said before..."

"Nah, it's okay," Macao patted his head. "I beat 19 vulcans you know?"

"Wow, really?"

"Yup, I'll tell you all about it too."

Romeo smiled "Okay, but first..." He looked back at the group. "...Thanks, everyone! Dad's okay because of you."

"Yeah, I really owe you all." Macao nodded.

Natsu grinned, crossing his arms behind his head while the other three smiled "Ah, don't sweat it."

"We're glad everything worked out all right." Happy added.

"Yeah, you must have some catching up to do so we'll see you later." Hope said.

"Yeah!" Romeo ran to his father and the two walked away.

Lucy stretched her arms as they began to leave "Well I wasn't too sure about things then but everything's okay."

"You say that but you did freak out a lot." Happy reminded.

"Well, excuse me! You guys are used to the dangers on a job, I'm not."

Natsu spoke before Happy could respond "You know, I've been thinking, how about we form a team, Hope? Everyone's sayin' how good the missions we do together goes and we'd make a sweet group."

"That sounds great, anyone else you had in mind?" The boy smiled.

"Lucy, for starters."

The blonde blinked "Me? You guys don't mind?"

"Why would we? We handled things good today, right?" Hope pointed out.

"Yeah, after this I say you'd fit right in. What do you think?" Natsu wanted to know.

She smiled "I'd like that. I'm in!"

"Cool! So it's settled."

"Hey guys, you're not forgetting about me, right?" Happy fretted.

"No way!" The boys responded before Hope added "If it's us, you're a given, Happy, that's why we didn't mention you."

Natsu nodded while the cat sighed in relief.

"Then it's settled."

Hope blinked when they reached the street leading to his home. "This is my stop. Bye, everyone."

"Bye!"

"Later."

"See you tomorrow!"

The brunet stopped for a moment when he felt a familiar warmth surrounding him but then smiled and continued walking. He purposefully lowered his voice before speaking "So, what did you think of that?"

'I thought it was bound to happen sooner or later.' A male voice inside Hope's head replied before a translucent figure of a small phoenix with four wings appeared. The figure had golden feathers all over except for the tail feathers, which were colorful. He had warm amber eyes as well, a sharp orange beak and similar talons. 'I can picture us making a good team.'

"For sure. Thanks for your help today, any reason why you were so quiet before?"

'You're welcome. As for the second part, I think you know why.'

Hope sighed, realizing he did. "Well, I guess explaining our situation is...tricky."

'That's putting it nicely. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it.'

"Best thing we can do, I guess."

* * *

Lucy smiled as she watched Natsu and Happy argue about dinner, reflecting on how most of the people she met here have been nothing but kind and friendly.

"Yup, I'm definitely going to like it here." She murmured, glancing at the pink Fairy tail mark on her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Mirajane watched the usual activity around the guild and smiled, noting that it was the same as always. Some squabbling, others fighting on a side while the rest chatted merrily or did what they had in mind but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Her eyes widened when she saw Gray choking on his sandwich and quickly gave him a glass of water.

He gulped it in one and sighed "Thanks."

"No problem, what happened? You just jumped."

"I don't know, I heard the door slam..." The two turned at that note and saw Droy enter.

"Erza's coming back!"

The sentence might have been simple but it caused a resounding silence. Then everyone hurried to straighten their acts, Cana put away the barrel of beer she was drinking from, Gray put on his clothes (after Mira pointed out that he stripped again, much to his chagrin).

"Should I be worried about this?" Lucy asked Natsu after watching him put his plate and glass in the kitchen and come back, clearly having made sure there were no more crumbs on him.

He looked at her and made a thinking noise "Nah, you're good."

"Somehow this doesn't make me feel any better...wait..." Lucy blinked. "...wasn't Erza that person you and Hope talked about before? The one who apparently traumatized the vulcans?"

He nodded and she raised an eye "Isn't that pushing it?"

"Nope, you'll get the point when you see her."

* * *

After watching her in action for a few minutes, Lucy could understand what he was talking about.

At first, she couldn't believe she hadn't recognized the name. Erza Scarlet, she was Titania Erza! The strongest woman in Fairy tail and one of the guild's S-class mages. She was just as beautiful as Lucy had heard too. Her red hair which matched her name was almost as long as Lucy's own and her brown eyes were cool and assessing, giving her a strict air.

It took Lucy a couple of minutes to find out that she really was strict. After learning Makarov was at the masters' meeting, the first thing Erza did was criticize almost everyone she laid her eyes on (though for some reason she couldn't decide how to chew Macao off). Everyone immediately did as she told them too, while the rest just gave her timid and frightened looks. Lucy had never imagined the guild could be so quiet. Even Natsu and Gray had stopped their fighting and were pretending to be best friends. She could tell that Erza must be _really_ scary if everyone acted like this.

"I've got no words for this..." She said at last.

"I can't blame you. Erza's got that effect on people." Happy informed.

Some people near the door stiffened when they heard footsteps, but then they thought nothing could be worse than dealing with Erza, right?

They prayed it wasn't anymore trouble...

Luckily, the new arrival was as far from trouble as you could get.

"Hope?" Jet managed while the rest eased up a little.

"Yeah," the boy responded, looking puzzled. "What's going on?"

"In short..." The orange haired speed mage pointed at the bar where Erza was talking to Mirajane.

Hope smiled when he saw the scarlet haired woman. "Oh hey, Erza, so you came back."

The two women looked at him and smiled back before she responded "Well, hello there, Hope. How are you?"

"Pretty good. You?"

"Same here."

Some people watched them talk while the rest went to find something to do.

"I don't get it. Everyone's acting so stiff around her except Hope and Mira-san." The blonde stated.

Aforementioned waitress tilted her head a little "Actually, I noticed that too. They really over do it and act all weird, don't they?"

"No, I'm pretty sure you two are the weird ones here." Happy deadpanned.

* * *

Natsu was staring at the huge item Erza had brought "Uh, what the heck is that?"

"It's a horn from the monster I was asked to defeat. Seems the townspeople were so glad to see it gone that they decorated it for me. It was very kind, don't you think?"

"If you say so. It's just weird to bother dragging it the whole way."

"This, coming from you?" She retorted with a raised eye.

Natsu knew she was talking about the state of his house. "Hey, I gather souvenirs! They're nice stuff. Stuff I know I can keep well enough. What the heck are you going to do with that?"

Gray raised an eye "Yeah, I'm pretty sure even Erza wouldn't want any decoration advice from you, Ash brain."

"What's that supposed to mean, Ice princess?!"

"Only that your house is a dump."

"It is not a dump! If anything, your place is!"

"How would you know!? I wouldn't let you near my place at all!"

Natsu's retort was cut off by a cough that made the two freeze and glance at Erza.

"Do I hear fighting?"

"N-no!" They said together.

"Why would we fight? We're best friends! We get along great!" Gray added.

Erza nodded "Good."

Happy rolled his eyes but decided not to comment just this time. Their fights happened so much now that he was just exasperated. "Erza, weren't you going to ask something before you got sidetracked?"

"Oh, that's right." The redhead paused. "The truth is, I passed a bar earlier and I heard a strange rumor. It seems the dark guild Eisenwald is planning something and they're heading to Clover Town. It involves something called Lullaby apparently. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize the guild's name until later."

"And you want some help along?" Natsu clarified.

She nodded "Right, you, Hope and Gray."

"Hold it! Hope's fine with me but you want him with us? He'll just slow us down!" Natsu scowled.

Gray normally would've been annoyed at this but now definitely wasn't the time. "Idiot."

Erza's eyes narrowed "Didn't you just say you were getting along?"

"O-oh, right!" The dragon slayer said, recalling the lie. "Never mind me!"

"Hey, so I can't come?" Happy whined.

Hope smiled and picked him up "I don't think she means it like that. If Natsu's coming then she knows you are too. Right?"

"Right. Apologies, Happy. You can come." Erza assured. "Does that mean I can count on you?"

"Of course." Gray said with a raised eye.

"Really, Erza, you should know the answer." Hope responded.

"Yeah, come on!" Natsu added.

She smiled in response, giving them a grateful look. They might not always get along but the four of them were definitely comrades.

"Still...they're going to Clover Town at the same time as the guild master's meeting." Hope frowned in thought. "At least we have an idea about their plan."

Gray's face lit up in realization. "...Yeah, it's way too much of a coincidence. Dammit, if those creeps go after Gramps and the other masters..."

"We'll just have to make sure they don't succeed. That's that." Erza said firmly and they nodded.

* * *

The next day came and everyone except Erza were at the train station.

"...Anyway, Hope's like a walking peacemaker so he tries to talk them out of it. Erza just beats them up senseless almost every time she saw them fight." Happy informed when Lucy questioned Natsu and Gray's odd behavior around her.

"I thought it was something like that..." She shook her head in exasperation. "...Of course, with how they fight like an old couple it just got worse and worse, huh?"

Happy and Hope laughed at the remark but the first answered "Yup."

"Oh good," they turned to see Erza. "Everyone's here."

"Good mor...what's all that?!" Lucy gaped at the great amount of bags she had.

"It looks like she's moving her whole house with her, doesn't it? Erza's really careful about not leaving out anything she might need on jobs." Hope informed.

"Okay but this seems a little too much..."

"Meh, we're used to it." Natsu said dismissively.

The latest arrival looked at Lucy "Oh, you were in the guild yesterday. New member?"

"Yeah, I'm Lucy. Mira-san thought I should come with you to pick some experience...if that's okay?"

Erza smiled kindly "Of course, you're more than welcome to join us."

* * *

Once they were all settled in their cabin, Gray swiftly pulled Natsu so that he could sit by the window. His face was rather pale with an almost blue hue as he let out a moan.

"Man, I can't remember..." Happy's forehead creased as he continued to think hard. "...There was something I had to tell Lucy but I forgot what it was."

The blonde gave him a curious look "It's funny now that you mention it. The name Lullaby sounds familiar but I can't tell why...Make sure you tell me if you do remember."

Happy nodded "You too."

Natsu groaned "Why do we have to go by train? What's wrong with walking?"

"For the last time, it's way too far to walk." Gray said irritably. "Talk about pathetic. I can understand motion sickness but you're taking it too far."

"That's motion sickness? It does seem intense..." Lucy trailed off.

"Yeah, we think it's related to his magic." Erza informed.

The blonde remembered something "Hope, can't you fix him up? You did great with Ross and Macao."

"My magic doesn't work like that. The ideas I tried were no help."

"But I thought healing magic could..." Lucy began.

"I knew it was that. Hope's not a healer, he's a Memoria Templar." Gray interjected.

"Seriously?" Lucy had heard about the mages who were born with the power to control time to an extent. What she had thought to be healing magic was really Hope's reversing the time on a body to before they were injured. "I know templars can restore and stuff but I never thought it worked that well."

"We had the same reaction but Hope's just that good and..." Happy's stomach growled. "...Oh yeah, I forgot we didn't have time to eat."

"Then we can do that now. No rush, it's lunch time anyway." Gray stood.

Erza scowled "You're awfully relaxed even knowing what we do. We can't take this mission lightly! If we do, we'll fail!"

Lucy, Gray and Happy all looked to nervous to respond, even Natsu, sick as he was, tried to inch away from her. To them it looked like she was emitting a particularly intense, angry aura.

Fortunately for them, one person managed to respond. "No one's taking it lightly. But there's no point getting too wound up about it, that's just as bad. We can just start working on a plan now and ruining anyone's chances for lunch isn't doing them favors, anyway. How about we take things at a good, reasonable pace?"

The three looked from Hope to Erza, wondering how he could be so calm. Happy and Gray had seen this before but it sure didn't help them get it.

Erza let out a breath "You're right. I'll keep that in mind."

Hope just smiled "Then let's go."

"First things first..." The boy looked confused at this until she knocked Natsu out with a punch and let him lay on the couch.

"Just like that?" Lucy mumbled.

"Whatever works, right?" Erza asked in return.

"...Forget I said anything."

* * *

A while later...

"You idiot!" Two voices cried.

"Who's the idiot here?! You let them just pick you up!" Gray snapped.

"I was sick! Who's the one who let the creeps sneak up on him?!" Natsu demanded.

"That's it! Next time, I'm not lifting a finger to help you, you ungrateful jackass!"

"Oh, what am I going to do?" Natsu said in a mock-worry tone before he got serious. "Obviously I'm gonna to be just fine without some annoying ice princess pretending to be useful!"

"What?!"

Gray never got to finish because that was when Erza ended the fight by punching them both with enough force to knock them down.

"Stop this right now! How long are you going to insist on behaving like children?"

"He started it!" The two protested, pointing at each other. It didn't take long for them to start glaring at each other then. Apparently, they were so frustrated that they just started venting then.

"I'm going to make you pay for that one, Ash brain!"

"That's my line, icy pervert! While you're standing there, put your clothes on!"

Gray blinked "Oh, crap!" He quickly did so.

"Jeez, you idiot..."

Erza hit them again "Enough already!"

Lucy groaned "Would you all get your priorities straight already?! This is so not the time to fight!"

What lead to this? Well, let's back track a few minutes.

Just after the group had lunch and got all the known details about the job out, the train arrived at its destination. But as they were about to leave, they were trapped by a sort of shadowy veil and seemingly hurled out of the train and found themselves in a wasteland. Natsu had woken up in time to see a group of men surrounding them all, declaring that they wouldn't let anyone get in their way. It didn't take them long to get rid of the attackers, realizing that they were really from Eisenwald.

Happy sighed as he watched the rising argument. He looked at Hope. "Tell me you got some way to make them stop."

"I do..." He created a sphere of light and threw it towards Natsu, Gray and Erza. It burst, creating a wave that pushed them away from each other.

"Hope! What are you doing?" Natsu demanded.

"I needed some way to get your attention." He responded. "It's true that none of us were prepared to deal with them right then but what you're doing now is making things worse. If you're angry, take it out on Eisenwald. We're never going to do the job right if we don't work together. I know you can pull that off no problem but you need to calm down. I think it's time we get serious and show that guild not to underestimate Fairy tail."

The three started to look ashamed as his words sank in.

"You're right, Hope." Erza kicked herself for losing her temper, she was the one who insisted for them to get serious at first too...

"Okay, so...what should we do?" Gray asked. He was partly relieved because if this had been anybody else, things wouldn't have ended so simply.

Hope conjured up a large, translucent light sphere which started to float in. "Time to go."

"All right!"

They stepped in and a pair of golden wings appeared on Hope's back before he flew, with the sphere quickly following him.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Oshibana Town where the train stopped, the members of Eisenwald were already laughing at the group's misfortune. One of their members, Kageyama, had been on the train and happened to overhear some of the Fairy tail mages' talk. He'd then used a lacrima to contact his guild mates and they worked to set the trap up and keep them away while they got on with their plan.

"I can't believe those were fairy tail mages. Did you see that kid with the pink hair? He looked so pathetic back there!" One of them cackled.

"Like he's the only one? I guess what we heard about the guild is just plain rumors. I don't even care how they found out anymore. They don't stand a chance." Kageyama smirked.

Something struck the ground before him then, it released a large burst of light that blinded anyone nearby.

"Hey, what the..."

"Whoa!"

"When did they..."

"?" Kageyama frowned and forced his eyes to open, seeing that Team Natsu had arrived.

Natsu's fist blazed as he smirked "All right, come get some!"

* * *

"Eat this!"

Gray's eyes narrowed at the sight of the numerous energy blasts coming at him before he cast "Ice Make: Lance!"

A part of ice lances ripped through the blasts while the rest hit the attackers.

Seeing this, some of the grunts dropped the idea of magic and charged in, weapons at the ready.

Erza took matters into her hands then. She took out a sword and attacked swiftly, taking most of them down. She then turned around, spinning the sword and cutting anyone nearby.

"So you're finally up, brat?" Kageyama addressed Natsu. "You should have stayed down and spared yourself the trouble. You're not going to stop us!"

He conjured a black magic wave that stuck the ground before pulsing up to strike Natsu in the face.

"Nice try, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" The dragon slayer hit the ground, creating a fiery wave that stopped Kageyama's spell. The man was bewildered to see that Natsu had disappeared then.

"Hey, knuckle head, over here!" Kageyama whirled around only to be hit it in the gut with Natsu's fist before the latter grabbed him arm and tossed him over his shoulder towards some of his guild mates.

"Kageyama-san!"

"No way!"

But Kageyama pulled himself up "What're you gaping at?! Move it!"

"Yeah!" A group of six men grabbed the rifles on their back and prepared to fire. But then all of the weapons were shot out of their hands by some quick bullets.

"Ow!"

"What the..." The speaker looked for the source to find Hope standing to their left with two blue, black and gold pistols drawn. The smoke coming from them showing that he had just used them.

The weapons started to glow as Hope poured some magic in them. When the light faded, they were revealed to be replaced with a pair of blades which had hilts the same color as the pistols.

The blades sent out a speedy magic blast that stopped the first enemy before he realized that Hope had closed in on him and slashed his arms, making him fall towards his comrades. When the next one tried to use a fire spell, Hope cast Aegis to nullify it before striking the man's chest and blasting him down when one of his weapons changed for into a pistol again. He took anyone else that tried to get at him with similarly precise and powerful strikes.

"You got the hang of those, nice." Gray praised with a glance at the pistol.

Hope just smiled "Thanks, I learned from the best."

"You guys were great..." Lucy stopped when she noticed more of the grunts coming. "...Oh for the love of all that's good...you're obviously out of your league so why don't you just quit? Gate of the Crab, I open thee! Cancer!"

A humanoid red crab wearing a light blue shirt and dark pants and shoes emerged. "I'm here, ebi!"

"Take those guys out!" Lucy commanded.

"Gotcha," two scissors appeared in his hands and in a few moves, Cancer managed to cut down the weapon, clothes and in some cases even the hair of some grunts before taking them out.

Happy burst out laughing at their expressions "I like this guy already!"

"Yeah, not half-bad." Natsu nodded.

"Don't start celebrating just yet!" A man in dark robes that seemed floating in mid-air arrived.

"Erigor-san!" Kageyama smirked.

The man sneered "This is the bunch giving you all trouble, Kageyama? Pathetic."

"S-sorry! That won't happen again!"

"Damn right it won't. I've got everything ready..."

Erza's eyes narrowed as she realized who this must be, hardly noticing that Kageyama and some of the other Eisenwald members who could fight were starting to move. "You're the grim reaper Erigor, am I right?"

Erigor looked at her "Well, so you heard of me? I don't know how you brats found out about us but you should have stayed away. See, you're all going to die here!"

"Big words from a jackass, come on here and put your money where your mouth is!" Natsu taunted.

"Why should I? Everything's set." Erigor snapped his fingers. A magic circle appeared, seemingly conjuring powerful waves of wind. He watched calmly even as some of his own comrades were blown away by the spell.

"Finally, you flies are going to watch as we play the Lullaby to the idiotic geezers in Clover Town." He smirked.

"So Hope was right. You're going after the masters!" Happy scowled.

Erigor raised an eye "Oh, so you realized that? I'm impressed, not that there's nothing you can do about it."

"Oh yeah?!" Natsu charged, fist at the ready.

Erigor raised an arm, the wind started to grow strong to resemble a hurricane that pushed Natsu to the ground almost immediately.

"What the..."

Natsu sat up with a grunt, cringing as he grabbed his arm, which had been cut by the sudden burst.

"The heck...? That wind felt like a sword!"

"It'll only get worse from here! Later, Fairy flies!" Erigor started to fly away.

"No!"

"He's gone..." Erza glared at the wind barrier, which had already concealed the spot they could see Erigor from. "...and they're going after the masters after all. What now?"

"He mentioned Lullaby again. What's up with that?" Gray wondered after trying an ice spell which was crushed by the fierce wind blocking their way.

"Oh man..." Lucy paled as a memory came back to her. "...I read about it. Guys, Lullaby's the song of death. It's a cursed flute that kills anyone who listens to its melody."

"What?!"

Natsu grit his teeth, standing up once Hope finished taking care of his injuries. "Then we gotta step on it!"

* * *

_Well, that's chapter 2.I really want it to be better than the old one. To clear up any confusion, I thought it was better to change Hope's weapon. Think of Hubert's weapon from Tales of Graces and you won't be far off. Here he already knew how to use two swords even before he joined Fairy tail and learned how to use the pistols after asking Alzack and Bisca to teach him. _

_Please read and review. I'd love to know what you think of the re-write!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Short chapter but I need this to really get things going in the next one. Looking back, I fully realize how much of a mess these chapters were, yikes..._

* * *

Gray internally cursed as he stared at the wind barrier "There's got to be something we can do! Hope, don't templars have a way to erase spells?"

Hope bit his lip and Natsu frowned at the ice mage "If he knew how to use that, he would've done it already!"

The truth of the matter was that Hope was fairly new to memoria magic. Some time had passed since they found out he was a templar and the discovery motivated him to try and learn it. But he was just getting started. Athena's veil and Rescindo wave, the spells to restore living and non living things came the easiest. Yet there was still his light magic and he couldn't just abandon it all together especially after all the work he put it, he still needed to train more to learn the other spells.

"Then we just have to find something else. Let's start with questioning the Eisenwald members we can find." Erza suggested.

"Right!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Clover Town, the guild master's meeting was well under way. Some of the leaders were bragging about their respective guild while others were reminiscing about their adventures while the rest talked about the rumors they picked up from here and there.

Currently, Makarov and his friends Masters Bob and Goldmine, the guild masters of Blue Pegasus and Quattro Cerberus respectively were all talking about the stories involving Lucy.

"Well, if it's true that she knocked out a vulcan so easily then I guess she is a super rookie." Bob mused.

Goldmine smirked "Makarov wouldn't know, seeing as he's probably been staring at her the same way he's been eyeing up those models in the magazines he keeps picking up."

The fairy tail guild master chuckled sheepishly, knowing there was no point in denying that. It was a guilty pleasure of his and they were well aware of it. "Ah well...she's been doing pretty good. If you see her, you'll know she's as lovely as any of those models."

Goldmine shook his head in amusement but said "Anyway, you're still getting in trouble with the council, huh?"

"Who cares about those stiffs?" Makarov said at once. "I hate to say it but I think I'm used to that kind of trouble."

"Can't blame ya, though they seem to like your grandson."

"Yeah, it's hard not to. Hope helps keeps them off my back, that's always a bonus."

Goldmine laughed "I'll bet. But on that subject...I keep thinking the kid reminded me of someone but I can't say who."

"You did say that before..." Bob recalled.

"You're probably overthinking this." Makarov had a bad feeling about this subject and he really wished it wasn't right. It was better to steer away from the dangerous waters just in case.

"I guess you're right. Still, if the kid was related to you by ways besides adoption, I'd be shocked."

Makarov blinked "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, come on, he's nice, polite and I bet he'd be real charming if he wanted to be. When you were his age, the same couldn't be said for you. You've barely improved even now. "

"I am not!" Makarov looked offended while Bob just laughed. "Where do you think Hope gets it from? Besides, you're..."

The three stopped when a pigeon flew to Makarov and landed on his shoulder, lowering its neck with a letter in its mouth.

"Oh, thanks little guy." Makarov took and opened it.

A magic circle flashed, revealing a hologram of Mirajane. This brought the attention of the people nearby who eyed her with clear admiration and appreciation. Not that it was a surprise, Mirajane was an attractive and famous person who had many fans after all.

"You lucky dog, having her in your guild." Goldmine smirked.

"Really! She's as adorable as ever!" Bob smiled.

Makarov just grinned, turning to the hologram when it greeted him. "I hope everything is going well. It's all fine here. I wanted to tell you that Natsu, Gray, Erza, Hope, Lucy and Happy have become a team. Erza took them on a job just a little while ago, seems like it could be the birth of Fairy tail's strongest team, right?"

"Now that I didn't see coming, ri...Makarov?" Bob raised an eye when he saw the man's shocked expression.

A team with some of his most notorious troublemakers put together? He didn't know about strongest but it was hands down the most chaotic team Makarov could think of. He knew Hope would try to keep things well and sort out problems but there was a limit to how much the boy's methods could work, especially with them together. From what he picked up about Lucy, he could tell the blonde was sensible enough to try and help there, which could only be a plus but how much would that work? Experience told him that Happy enjoyed having trouble like Natsu so things weren't reassuring at all. Erza might try to sort out fights but when riled up she was as bad as Natsu and Gray and don't even get him started on those two...

Makarov only prayed that no trouble would take place until he got back. It wasn't too much to ask right?

* * *

Sadly, he was right in a sense. The trouble he feared was already spreading in the station as the team kept looking for any information. The Eisenwald grunts didn't really know much. They didn't care that they were left behind, just as long as Erigor would do what he set out to. Happy lucked out when he overheard one of them mention that Kageyama would be able to do something about the barrier, though he was quickly smacked by his partner for his mouth. That was pretty much a tip off as far the fairy tail mages were concerned and they changed their plans to finding Kageyama.

Gray's eye twitched in annoyance "We really need to find a way to control Erza. She keeps knocking everyone one of those chumps out!"

"Yeah, it's either that or she scares them all stiff..." Lucy muttered, shaking her head. Controlling her seemed like mission impossible to Lucy though, she really wanted their other idea to work.

A fair distance from them, Natsu knocked out a grunt who was trying to sneak up on him and Hope before turning to the boy, whose silver gaze was scanning the area. Hope let out a breath and stopped the sight magic before speaking "Kageyama is in that tower's basement. I think he found out what we're up to, it looks like he's trying to conceal himself with magic."

"Fat chance of that, let's roll!"

Hope nodded and followed Natsu to the aforementioned tower.

* * *

"Damn brats...if it wasn't for them I'd actually be doing something useful..." Kageyama grumbled to himself quietly as he finished using his shadow magic. One of the other members, Rayule, had warned him to lay low since someone blabbed and now the enemies were after him.

He was relieved that Erigor had left to make sure their plan worked, at least. All he had to do was keep this spell up and buy him as much time as possible.

Little did he know that he was out of time.

Something hard and cold slammed into him all of a sudden, pushing him to the ground.

"Gah! What the..."

"Sure you didn't over do it? We need to talk to him." Happy's voice sounded.

"Nah, I know what I'm doing." Gray responded.

"Ice?" Kageyama muttered a moment later as he pulled himself up. "How the heck did they find me?"

The basement was already very dark when he arrived and his shadow magic capitalized on that and enforced that darkness to give him a very good hiding place. It should have spread through at least half the tower by now...

Grunting, he cast a wave of shadows that went to strike them. He saw something white flash for a moment before it suddenly got a lot colder. Kageyama realized a little too late that his ice was forming over his body, startling him into stopping the spell he was going to use next.

"That's more like it." Gray said as he hauled the man up, suddenly being able to see better. "If Hope was right, and he pretty much was most of the day, you already know what we want from you."

Kageyama snarled "Yeah, I do. Get this straight, I'm not getting rid of the seal!"

"Gray, look out!" They heard Happy call a moment later.

Startled, the two turned around to see Rayule, having stealthily approached them then with a black sword forming over his hand...

...which was destroyed by a shining bullet that hit his shoulder a moment later.

"What?" Kageyama stared as Rayule howled in pain.

Smirking, Gray turned to the room's entrance where Hope and Happy stood before giving the templar a thumbs up, which he nodded back to before they joined him.

"You damn brat...!" Rayule growled. "Urumi!"

Sharp tendrils of darkness surged to strike them. Gray was forced to let go of Kageyama to prepare a defense but Hope was ahead of him. "White Shield!"

A shield that looked similar but was smaller than Aegis appeared around the fairy tail mages to stop the attack.

"Ice make: Knuckle!"

Rayule's eyes widened at the flurry of icy knuckles flying towards him and he quickly ducked, even jumping behind Kageyama at one point. The man scowled when he noticed this.

"Why you little..."

"Where do you think you're going?!" Gray demanded, punching the man hard in the gut then and freezing him right then. "Much better."

Hope eyed Kageyama closely before putting his pistol away "We're done then."

The man glared back "Who do you think you are, kid? Underestimating me..."

"It won't matter if I underestimate you or not seeing as you can't fight now anyway."

Kageyama's eyes widened while Happy and Gray looked confused. "What..."

The Eisenwald mage let out a breath, knowing he was caught "...He means Rayule one upped me when he realized you lot found out where I was. I'm kidding myself by thinking I can fight any of you now. It took a lot out of me just to cast this spell."

"How did you know, Hope?" Happy asked.

"I had a feeling, he hasn't moved since we came. More importantly, how about we get to the reason we came here?"

"Oh, right! Kageyama has to remove the seal!"

Kageyama scowled "DIdn't I say? I'm not helping you brats for anything."

Gray smirked "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure, buddy. We're not the ones you have to worry about."

Happy took on a similar expression "Yeah, you'll be helping us faster than you can say Lullaby!"

* * *

Happy's prediction came true quickly. Why? Simple, one would have to be a complete moron to get in Erza's way when she was on a mission. Especially now.

Let's face it, Poor Kageyama didn't stand a chance.

"So why couldn't I help catch that guy?" Natsu demanded.

"Would you give it a rest? We were both asked to stay up but you don't see me complaining." Erza said.

Lucy rolled her eyes "I don't pretend to know what Hope had in mind but if I had to guess, it's probably because the two of you can't seem to be subtle at all. We needed a sneak attack."

"Hey, I can be sneaky and subtle!" Natsu protested.

"No, you can't. Why are you acting like this is a contest anyway? We've got what we set out for."

Happy was about to speak, possibly wanting to tease Natsu but refrained when he saw something on the ground close to the station, currently in the direction they were heading in. "Is that a lacrima?"

Erza followed his line of sight but then her expression turned alarmed as the lacrima flashed. "Get down!"

The warning proved to be well timed when the lacrima blew up only seconds later.

"What the heck was that?" Gray asked Erza.

"A timed bomb. from the looks of thing. I'd say that was triggered to go off when someone comes near it."

Kageyama leaned on the wall, sneering at them "That's Erigor-san, he's determined as the rest of us to make sure this plan works."

"Talk about relaxed, this could affect you too, you know! Why are you so desperate to get this plan underway?" Lucy wanted to know.

"You wouldn't understand." He scoffed. "You don't know what it's been like for us. Our rights were stolen by people who had it all but only cared about themselves. Well, now we're just going to make sure to get everything."

"That's quite the talk for people who are just stalling for time." Hope said coolly. "You can't get away with treating people's lives like dirt."

"Exactly, we've come too far to stop now." Natsu glared at Kageyama.

Hope concentrated his magic and began to scan the area again. Moments later, he spoke "There's a bunch of bombs scattered here and there..."

Happy groaned "They really are buying time! What do we do?"

Hope frowned in thought. "_I've got one idea that might work. Can you..."_

_"Just leave it to me. It won't be a problem." _The phoenix's voice sounded very close to him.

_"Thanks." _Hope conjured up a number of light spheres and they flew off moments later. The rest understood what happened when they saw a couple of glowing spheres nearby.

"I get it, we can't stop those things but you're making sure we can at least contain the damage." Gray said, impressed.

Erza gave an approving nod "Nicely done, Hope."

"Yeah, let's get going!" Natsu said.

He was then startled by Happy's outcry. "That's it!"

"Happy?"

The cat flew up "Lucy, Virgo gave me her key before we left Duke Everlue's mansion and she wanted you to have it."

The blonde stared at him "Out of all the things to forget!"

"Sorry...oh yeah, can't we use the celestial world to get around faster like last time?"

"You guys just lucked out. It's not that simple!" Lucy responded. "But maybe we can use this to evade any other problems. Erigor wouldn't expect us coming from underground. Gate of the Maiden, I open thee! Virgo!"

Everyone stared at the pretty pink haired maid that appeared then. Natsu, Lucy and Happy were dumb struck while their friends were curious.

"...Guys, are you sure that's the same Virgo you were telling us about?" Hope asked.

"She should be...I swear she looked like a vulcan before!" Natsu replied.

"Oh, you mean my old form?" Virgo transformed into a much larger, muscular and meaner looking woman which shocked them. "I'm a loyal spirit that changes form according to my master's wishes."

"What kind of person was her old master...?" Gray shook his head "...I think we all agree that your new form is better."

Virgo saw Lucy nod quickly to this and turned back "Then, Princess, would you like to form a contract?"

"'Princess?' Oh, never mind, we're in a hurry. I'll sort that out later. Just help us now!"

"Very well."

* * *

Virgo helped them get a fair distance away, stopping when Hope informed that they were close to where Erigor was. Gray looked annoyed when he realized that Natsu and Happy had taken off the moment they heard this, going in the direction they knew the Grim Reaper to be in.

Natsu smirked when he noted the familiar figure flying not too far away.

"Finally!"

* * *

_Please Read and Review!_


	4. Chapter 4

"You never learn!" Erigor conjured up a burst of wind that pushed Natsu away again. He sneered "I'm surprised you caught up but even then, it makes no difference. You're out of your league, kid!"

"Don't bet on it!" Natsu retorted, standing. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Erigor floated in different directions to avoid the fiery waves "Pathetic! You should have waited for your buddies after all. Maybe then you'd have some chance."

"That's some ego you got! Come on, Natsu, you can do it!" Happy called.

The dragon slayer grinned "You bet! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Happy watched the battle continue, feeling frustrated as he watched his best friend's moves being stopped by Erigor's wind magic. No wonder the man was the guild's ace, he had the skills to match the title. He kept Natsu away easily as his wind magic seemed able to practically negate all Natsu's flames.

"Natsu, try something else!"

"Like what?" Natsu really didn't have any idea what he could do against this...

"I dunno, uh..."

Erigor sent another wind spell, forcing Natsu to dodge. "Don't tell me you thought you could relax once you were past the traps. That was just Rayule's idea and I wanted to see if it would really do anything. Even with all that, you're turning out to be a big disappointment, Salamander!"

Natsu growled "Oh, just wait. I'm only getting started!"

Happy almost groaned when the battle started to look the same way again, with Erigor dodging or countering Natsu's strikes. There had to be something to help turn this around...

"Emera baram!" Erigor cast, sending Natsu crashing to the ground.

* * *

Moments later, an idea came to the blue cat.

A grin appeared on his face for a moment before he continued "Natsu, don't you think Erigor's right?"

"What?"

Even Erigor looked surprised at this.

"I mean you're obviously a bad match against him. I can go and get the others to help..." Happy continued.

"Hey, what's with that attitude? I'm working it out, okay?!"

The cat looked unconvinced but it was his next words that would really change the situation "I don't know, I bet Gray can turn this guy into a popsicle in less than 5 minutes."

"What?!"

Hook, line and sinker. Happy inwardly smirked but continued innocently "Well, he can probably pull this off quickly. You're just wasting time."

"Are you saying he's better than me!?" Natsu demanded. "No way! I can take this guy out on my own."

"Really? How about you prove it?" Erigor taunted.

"The proof's comin' right up! Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

"Idiot, Storm mail!"

The grim reaper thought everything was fine but he realized in alarm that Natsu's flames hadn't been put out like the other times. Grunting, Erigor increased his spell's power. "Give it up, nothing's changed. You're definitely not getting past me."

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Happy said airily.

Once again he was proven correctly when Natsu went through storm mail and punched him hard. The strange part was, his flames weren't affected by Erigor's wind one bit.

The thing was, fire usually burns oxygen, which left Erigor defenseless. Happy knew that, and he also knew that the one way to get Natsu fired up to go all out now was to anger him which was why he said those things. Now with the flames powered up by his emotions, Natsu was stronger.

The teen proceeded to hit Erigor, even persevering when over half of his attacks were blocked off. Slowly, he was getting through his opponent's guard and Natsu knew it.

"See how you like this. Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"

Happy cheered when Erigor was slammed to the ground and knocked out. "All right! I knew you could do it!"

Natsu gave him an unimpressed look "You were singing a different tune a minute ago."

"Ah, that's..."

Fortunately for him, he was saved from having to respond by their friends' arrival.

Gray blinked when he saw Erigor's unmoving form "What, you got him?"

"Nice, I knew you had it in you." Hope said.

Natsu grinned at him. "Thanks." He gave Happy a pointed look then. "See?"

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked the group.

Erza looked at their surroundings "Well, I think we're very close to the guild master's hall. Maybe we should give them Lullaby and let them reseal it."

"Sounds good but...I don't see that thing anywhere, do you?"

Everyone started at this before looking around in alarm. They hadn't noticed but Lucy was right, the wooden flute they had seen earlier with Erigor was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Relying on Hope's sight magic once more, the group knew that Kageyama had whatever magic he had left to grab Lullaby while they were distracted and went to the guild master's hall. He had stolen a car from Oshibana town and followed the team, still determined to see this mission to the end.

When they arrived, it was to find Kageyama facing Makarov, clearly ready to play Lullaby. Just as they was about to go and stop him, they were stopped by Masters Goldmine and Bob, asking her to leave it to Makarov.

So they all watched as the fairy tail guildmaster proceeded to basically tell Kageyama not to overdo it, that he shouldn't force himself to go on now and that he had a chance to start over after receiving punishment for his actions. Makarov advised him not to go any further and just take a chance to go after that fresh start, knowing that things will be better for him if he did.

Kageyama looked more shaken at this, having not expect this reaction at all. Did the man know about his hesitation? How?

But before he could really react to any of this, Lullaby's floated out of his hand. The eyes started to glow before a voice said

"Honestly, is this all it takes to satisfy humans? That's just pathetic!"

"Wha...It can talk?!"

"Hmph," the voice scoffed. "Of course I can. Now watch, foolish humans as I show you what power you let slip through your fingers. I'll just start things off by devouring all your souls!"

A magic circle flashed and the flute transformed into a huge, demonic monster that immediately began rampaging. The people in the hall came out to see what was going on as a result.

"What the..."

"A demon?!"

"What's going on?"

"Perfect, you're all just setting yourself up for me."

"Then..." Erza, Natsu, Gray and Hope ran to block its path and the first continued "...we'll just have to stop you now."

Lullaby snarled and glowered at them.

"Re-equip!" Golden light surrounded Erza's body for a few moments, then revealing the redhead clad in a mostly silver armor with a headband that had metal wings attached at the side. "Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

Many of the observers had hearts in place of their eyes.

"That's Titania's Re-equip magic!"

"Yeah, and it's marvelous!"

"Try this, Circle Sword!" Erza called, striking Lullaby with numerous swords and make it howl in pain.

"And she's as strong as the rumors say too!" An observer exclaimed.

"Wow, no wonder she's an s-class mage. That's incredible..." Lucy agreed.

Lullaby then made to swipe at everyone with its hands only to be distracted by the ice lances and flame waves that hit its side.

Gray smirked "Where are you looking? We're not through with you yet!"

"No, but I'm through with you!" Lullaby snapped, firing a number of energy blasts from its mouth then.

"As if! Ice make: Shield!"

The nearby spectators stared in awe at the sight as the construct saved them.

"That's creation magic..."

"And so fast!"

"Damn, that kid's good!"

Natsu ran on Lullaby's back until he reached the knee, which was when he struck "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Did he just..."

"Yeah, that kid's got guts!"

"And clearly, the power to back it up!"

"Yup, that's Natsu!" Happy grinned when the dragon slayer hit Lullaby with a fire powered kick.

Lullaby roared in anger and pain and fired a big energy blast.

Hope then cast "Nova Gale!"

Shining wind surrounded Lullaby, making it howl as it seemingly restricted its movements. The demon was then struck by a powerful light blast.

"How did he do that?!" A random observer wondered.

"He overpowered that huge blast like it was nothing! Some power"

"That kid must have some insane skill with magic..."

"Yeah he does. You go, Hope!" Happy beamed, glad to hear the praise their friends were receiving.

Lucy smiled "They're all amazing..."

"Lucy, why don't you help?" The cat asked.

She stiffened and gave a sheepish look "My power's not enough to summon another spirit now...I'll probably get in the way."

"Lame..."

"Hey, don't be mean!"

Happy laughed, it was so easy to get a rise out of her!

The two started as the ground shook and turned to Lullaby, realizing it was because its hand had struck the earth. The demon growled and did it again near Gray and Erza, forcing them to dodge.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

"Star Gladius!"

"Gah!" Lullaby roared. "Why you little...get over here!"

Hope and Natsu dodged its attack and responded with a Shining Torrent that stunned Lullaby before being followed by a Fire Dragon's Roar.

"It's almost like they timed it that well..." Lucy noted.

"Get the 'almost' out and you'll be right. Natsu and Hope are one of the best teams in the whole guild. That's sort of thing's a piece of cake for them." Happy informed.

The two ended up driving that point home for many of the observers then, hitting Lullaby with another brilliantly timed combination that sent it crashing to the ground.

Gray smirked "Nice work! Ice make: Ice Impact!"

Erza went next "Pentagram Sword!"

"How about this? Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

It was those strikes that felled Lullaby and ended the battle, making the observers cheer.

* * *

"Honestly, Gray, how long are you going to keep that habit? It's disgraceful." Erza commented as she went past the ice mage.

"Oh crap!" He yelped when he realized that he had stripped...again. "Sorry...where..."

Gray stopped when Hope gave him his clothes a moment later. "Thanks...nice to deal with someone who doesn't rub this in my face."

"No problem. I'm just resigned to the fact that this seems to be almost as chronic as Natsu's motion sickness."

"It's totally random though..." Natsu couldn't help but remark.

"You're telling me." Gray grew nervous suddenly.

Lucy and Happy exchanged smiles as she listened to the people praising Fairy tail. They were clearly impressed by the battle and it improved the guild's reputation in their eyes. The first then noticed Gray's expression.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm thinking we might have gone too far..." He admitted, looking around the forest, half of which had been totalled in the battle, mostly by Lullaby.

"How's that any different from the usual?" Natsu pointed out.

While his rival had a point, this definitely wasn't the time for it. "That's not what it's about, you idiot!"

"Yeah!" Makarov was thinking along similar lines. He should've known there was no way his brats wouldn't get in trouble. It was just too good to be true. "Look at this, what we supposed to do now?"

"Relax, Grandpa..." Hope began.

"How can I? After..." Makarov stopped when Hope gently steered him to turn left, blinking when the dust around the guild hall vanished, revealing it safe and sound. The reason was revealed when the dome formed by Aegis appeared then. "...Oh. Forget I said anything."

This was one time he was glad to be proven wrong. The fact that the place was all right was a big plus. Things worked out after all, he mentally cheered.

Erza smiled and Gray looked similarly relieved. He could imagine how much trouble they would've been in if it hadn't been for that. "Have I mentioned that you're a total life saver?"

"Yeah, a bunch of times but thanks," Hope said with a laugh. "I thought it might be needed. Sorry, there wasn't any time to worry about any other place..."

"Ah, don't worry about it. We can always use this chance to do a little landscaping." Goldmine chuckled.

"Count on Hope to bail us out of trouble..." A relieved Happy muttered.

Bob laughed "Well, I see Makarov wasn't exaggerating about that part at the very least."

"Which reminds me...Hope, Makarov said you would know..." Goldmine dug in his pocket and took out what looked to be a rhombus shaped red glass shard. "...what this is."

The boy started at the sight, clarifying his grandfather's suspicion. "So it is just like the other one, huh?"

Hope nodded and spread his palm. The shard lit up and immediately flew to him then. He revealed a silver necklace that was under his shirt, it had an empty round pendant with a star in the center, each end attached to a point in the circle. There was a crystal at each side of the star, totaling four.

Most of the pendant was silver but two of the crystals were blue. When Hope brought the red shard close, it seemingly merged with the pendant, making the circle part turn red.

"So they're pieces of that..." Goldmine observed.

"Yeah, I've been trying to fix it." Hope explained. "I think the shards are scattered to many places because I've only one so far. Thank you for this."

"Heh, no problem. With how things are, I'd say you would've found it even if we hadn't."

Makarov nodded "Come on, you lot, time to make sure you get your reward."

"Yeah!" Lucy and Happy cheered while Natsu grinned.

* * *

_Please read and review! I'd love to hear opinions about the re-write!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Heeh, that sounds like some mission."

"Trust me you don't know the half of it. But at least I got this!" Lucy took out Saggitarius' key with a smile. She, Natsu, Happy, Gray and Erza had returned from a mission in Galuna Island while Hope had been doing a job for the council and so they had taken time to catch up. "You're lucky you didn't have to deal with the punishment."

Hope gave her a sympathetic look "Yeah, I guess Grandpa didn't take this well, huh?"

"That, is the understatement of the century." Lucy said with a sigh. "I honestly think it'd would have been better if you were there but it's clear you've got quite the load on your hand. No wonder you guys never made a team before with how you're either helping around here, or with people on jobs or even the council. Why can't Laxus act like the big brother he's supposed to be and help?"

"Maybe because he's never done it before?" Gray said as he walked over with Happy flying behind him. "You know Hope's doing this because he wants to helps Gramps out. Look me in the eye and tell me you can see Laxus doing something as admirable as that."

"Point taken..." As if she could do that. She had seen the lightning mage before they left for Galuna Island and honestly, his attitude was really annoying. That was the one time she understood just why Natsu would attack one of his guild mates.

Happy landed on Hope's lap "Ah, who cares? Hope doesn't need him as long as he got us, right?"

The boy smiled and stroked his head, making the cat purr. "Yeah, that's good enough for me."

"You said Hope was the last person to join before me. When was that?" Lucy asked curiously.

Happy tilted his head as he thought it over "...Almost 4 years ago now, I think. Master adopted him into the family right after that. He was actually a freelance mage so Master let him pick out jobs whenever he was in Magnolia. Hope's been to a lot of places and a bunch of guilds wanted him to join up, actually."

"Really? Well, I've seen you in action so I know you're skilled but you must have been pretty good back then too." Lucy noted, impressed.

Hope looked sheepish "Thanks, but I'm not really sure that's why..."

Gray shot him an amused grin "Yeah, but we know all about that. Hey, Lucy, ever hear of the White Paladin?"

"? Sure, I have. That famous traveler who helped so many people and..." She blinked when he cocked his head at Hope. Her eyes widened as she understood "...whoa, no way..."

"Yes way."

The White Paladin was a traveling mage who tended to help people in plenty of places he visited. Many people weren't sure of his origins, heck they didn't know much of anything about him. Some wizard magazines had picked up a number of his stories from the people who met him, but he remained elusive to them. With people singing his praise, he had become famous. It was known that he was a skilled and clever swordsman with powerful light magic.

"Wow, I've been meeting a bunch of famous people but you're the last person I expected. I always liked the stories about you." Lucy admitted.

"If you told me I'd be here years ago, I wouldn't have believed it." Hope responded. "I'm still not sure who gave me that name but it stuck. People keep building their expectations after listening to their story, so a lot are surprised when they see me."

"Yeah, but you just kept blowin' minds, kiddo." Gray ruffled his hair.

Hope laughed "That sounds like some job we missed though. Your teacher seems just as amazing as you said."

"Oh, she is. More than you know." Thanks to a few mishaps on their first job together, Gray ended up having to tell him some things about his training days with Ur and his fellow ex-pupil Lyon. It wasn't something he would've done normally but he was grateful for Hope's understanding nature, which made him easy to talk to. It actually helped to talk about this to someone and it was what lead them to figure out a way to effectively end the job too.

"You're still having no luck with the pendant, huh?" Happy queried.

"Yeah, the shard Grandpa and the others found was the first I've seen in years. I keep wondering what's going to happen when I find the rest of them..." Hope admitted. The item had been with him for so long now and he was so used to keeping it closed. He remembered someone telling him it was important so he promised to always care for it. While he hadn't done such a good job of holding that promise, he still wanted to fix it and those shards were vital for that.

Hope just wished he could remember who the person he made the promise to was...

* * *

"You know, I'm still having trouble believing that those three went on a mission with such little damage coming out in the end." Droy admitted as he and Levy went to the request board with Natsu trailing after them. "Though it's probably thanks to Hope."

"What else is new?" Levy started searching through the jobs.

Natsu grabbed a request "You're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Have you see Master after you came back from that job? It wasn't nothing." Levy argued.

"Don't go there. I just remember that punishment..." The dragon slayer shuddered. Funny and fatherly he was but Makarov was also terrifying when crossed.

"Well, you guys were asking for it."

"He was overreacting! We did the job, just like I knew we could."

Levy shook her head "It's nice to see you believe in yourself and the others but it's never that simple. You know that."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make the whole thing any less of a pain..."

* * *

"I'm going to kill him..." Gray growled.

Lucy sighed "How did things turn out this way?"

"Ash brain just picked something that was good for him..."

Fed up with the complaints that had been going on for some time, Natsu turned to them. "Hey, I didn't ask you to come, snow fairy!"

"Maybe not, but Erza did!"

He blinked and put on a puzzled look "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're a team now and we should be getting used to doing jobs together." The knight mage said firmly.

This time Natsu knew better than to argue or respond so he kept going.

They had just left the town of Linali located to the south of Magnolia. The client wanted them to find out the reason behind the drought in the area and do something about it, having suspicions that it was caused by magical means. The people of Linali couldn't do a thing because when they tried, they were attacked by some odd monsters they have never seen before and were too scared to try again. Some of them were positive that they had seen runes and a magic circle in the forest. This situation had been going for a while and the heat seemed to be getting worse.

The other problem here was that Natsu had picked this request out, forgetting that he was the only one who could take this situation well. He was the only one not fazed by the area, another thing was that they weren't any closer to figuring this out nor had they seen any of the monsters the client mentioned.

A few minutes ago, they had stopped to let Hope use his sight spell to search the surrounding area again. But it didn't look like he had found anything.

"It's a good thing we haven't seen the monsters but really, what's going on with this place?" Happy wondered.

Erza looked at Hope, seeing that his eyes have turned blue again. "Did you find anything?"

He shook his head "I can't see anyone in that place and..." He stopped as a strong wave of dizziness crashed on him and before he quite knew it, Hope was swaying on his feet only to be caught by Erza.

"Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah, I'm just..." He stopped and cupped his forehead in his hand. Erza wasn't surprised, she had seen some people in Linali exhibiting similar exhaustion from the heat. Not to mention that he had been keeping the spell up for a while and used it a number of times today.

"Natsu, we're resting now!" Gray informed.

He agreed, mainly because he could see how tired his childhood friend was. Ignoring Hope's apologetic look, Natsu said "Let's go. I remember where those caves were."

* * *

"Sorry," Hope said as they settled in the nearest cave. "I'm..."

"That's okay," Erza assured. "You're just a little frail and it's fine. You've come a long way with that and we could always use the break ourselves."

"Yup, you just try and take it easy now. I'll tell when we're ready to keep going." Happy added.

The boy nodded, giving them a grateful smile before he lay against a boulder.

Gray poked his head out the cave with an annoyed look "What the heck's up with this place? With how they put the request, I thought we'd at least see some of the monsters or well...anything!"

"I know it's boring, snow fairy. Who needs you reminding us?" Natsu asked.

"That's not the point. Would you use that brain of yours for once? Then again, when was the last time you did?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know...that you're an idiot?"

"Why you..."

Erza's eye twitched and she went to deal with the two. Lucy rolled her eyes, already resigned to the fact that no matter what you do, there was just no stopping the fire and ice mages from fighting.

"I'm surprised that they actually haven't fought until now," Happy admitted, thinking along similar lines.

Lucy decided to ignore the scene and glanced at Hope in concern. After she told her about their rescuing Macao and Steiner along the way, Mira had informed her that Natsu and Happy weren't being mean when they tried to stop Hope from giving Lucy his coat. They were just concerned for him. The former model then revealed that Hope in fact had a frail constitution. After he had found some ways to help, with the aid of Makarov's ex-team member Porlyusica, he knew how to work things out to a pace that suited him. His friends understood that but they had made it a habit to look out for him. Lucy understood and thought it was sweet of them. She could see that their guild mates were appreciative of the boy's efforts and they tried not to pile too much on him in consideration. Plenty of them were protective of Hope as well. Fairy tail was starting to feel like more and more like a family.

* * *

"Jeez...not only is this lame, but now I've got a headache the size of the guild building because of you!" Natsu grumbled.

A while had passed since the afternoon and they had set off to continue the search again, but they were coming up empty handed.

"Me? You're the one who wouldn't back off!" Gray retorted.

"Guys, if you've got that much energy to spare then how about you help us look?" Hope walked over. "We're getting close to where the last monster sighting was. There should be at least a clue here."

"Fine!" The two responded, scowling at each other when they realized what the other said. Both were thankful it was Hope who caught them and not Erza, they would have been in serious pain if that was the case.

Lucy saw Happy fly over from her far right "Any luck?"

"No, it's totally empty. But you can totally tell there's been some mess here, those must be some powerful fire monsters."

Natsu blinked "Fire? Why would..."

He never got around to finishing the question because that was when Erza came back. She had a sword in hand and had jumped back to avoid a swipe from a large, translucent red creature that looked like a lizard. The odd thing was, it seemed like a giant red mass.

"What the heck is that thing?!"

Erza's eyes widened when she saw the creature raise its tail before going into a spin, everyone scrambled to dodge at once. The lizard came back to strike once more.

"Ice Make: Cannon!"

The creature was pushed back a good distance by the projectile, hissing angrily. Steam came forth from the spot it was hit then.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu tackled that same spot but had to jump to avoid the lizard's counter then.

Erza re-equipped into her Morning Star Armor "Photon Slicer!"

"Maelstrom!" Hope fired two beams from his pistols, they shot up into the sky and moments later, numerous beams hit the lizard.

With a key in hand, Lucy frowned in thought as she decided to try something "Gray, hit that thing hard! It looks like it hates ice."

"Huh, let's try then. Ice Make: Lance!"

It worked, pushing the lizard back again.

"I don't have ice element armor but this might work. Re-equip, Sea Empress Armor!" In a flash, Erza got a new blue and green armor out. She slashed with her sword, raising a big wave that washed the enemy away.

When the wave settled, the lizard was gone.

* * *

"What's going on?" Happy wondered. "Did that thing run?"

"Nope..." Natsu frowned in concentration. "...I can't smell any more trace of its scent. Erza, where did it come from?"

"I'm not sure." The redhead admitted, looking at the cave behind her then. "But it just emerged when I reached this cave..."

Upon hearing that, Hope went inside to take a look. Looking around, it seemed normal, even if relatively small opposed to what the outside would make one think. He noticed a violet sphere painted to his left. There were some letters around that glowed every few moments.

Happy and Erza followed him moments later. "Any luck?" The first prompted.

"...I think so." He said, getting one of his pistols out. "You're going to want to step back."

"Why?" They watched him access his personal dimension for a bit before he took out a blue bullet and stepped back as he fired.

Moments later, they found out just why. Not only was the bullet flashy, but it was really loud. It blinded them for a few seconds. When they could see again, they were surprised to see a hidden staircase.

"Hey, guys!" The others ran in and Natsu continued. "What was...hey, what's that doing here?"

"Why don't we go find out?" Hope said.

* * *

Deep beyond that same staircase were a group of men gathered in a room, all seeming tense and wound up. Even worried about something as they worked.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know but we have to think of anything!"

"And fast..."

"It's coming!"

At this, a roar sounded...

* * *

"What's with this place?" Natsu frowned. It looked like someone had built a home of sorts underground, they'd seen plenty of rooms but they were all empty. That wasn't the strangest part, though..."I could have sworn I heard something roar just now..."

"You're imagining it, there's no one here..." Gray said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "...but just to make sure I understand, this means someone made that rocky wall and got that shield spell Hope destroyed to cover something up maybe?"

"It sure looks that way. I remember seeing that symbol in a book, it's supposed to be perfect for hiding things. Even if we had destroyed part of the cave, as long as that symbol was intact we wouldn't have been able to tell if anything was off." Lucy explained.

"That's a lot of effort then..." Happy blinked, seeing something glow at the end of the corridor. "...Hey, do you guys see that?"

They did, the glow seemed to be coming from a room ahead...

A massive creature that looked a little similar to the lizard but with wings roared at the men staring at it fearfully. All their attempts to hide or keep it away failed and they didn't know what to do.

The creature charged at them again, only to be hit on the head by a pair of glowing arrows. Everyone looked around to see Team Natsu standing at the door next to the centaur zodiac spirit Saggitarius.

"Is that a dragon?!" Happy gaped.

"It looks like that lizard from before. Seems we're about to find the reason behind all the trouble." Erza remarked, glancing at the men. "What are you all waiting for? Get out of here, we'll handle this!"

The men were too confused and scared to obey the order but then the red dragon roared again and opened its mouth. Hope cast Aegis to stop in its tracks.

"Eat this. Ice Make: Cannon!" Gray smirked when the icy blast forced the creature back, making it hiss angrily.

"Saggitarius!" Lucy called.

"Right!" The spirit fired more arrows that hit the dragon's back, forcing it back. Lucy looked back at the men. "What're you waiting for? Go!"

Natsu and Erza charged then. The first jumped "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

"Re-equip, Purgatory Armor!" Erza's armor changed once more as she delievered a powerful series of slashes that ended with a dark star shaped wave that sent the dragon crashing into the wall.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Happy cheered.

The observers were in shock. "They're actually beating it?!" "Amazing..." "Who are they?"

"Let's keep it going." Lucy sent Saggitarius back and grabbed another key. "Taurus! Give it all you got!"

"Gladly!" The bull struck the dragon's back then. The creature reared back and was about to his the spirit with its tail, only for it to be destroyed by a laser that was followed by a shining blast similar to that lead them here. Taurus looked back at Hope "Thanks, kid!"

"No problem. Spiral Fang!" Hope proceeded to change his weapons to sword form before slashing the dragon chest repeatedly, gathering magic in his weapons. Then he jumped sideways to dodge the dragon's bite and using its head as a stepping stone to slash one of the wings and changing one of the weapons back to a pistol to blast the other one. He stepped back in time for Natsu to charge.

"Nice, Hope! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu's strike took care of the other wing before he punched the dragon's back to make sure it stayed grounded. "Gray!"

The ice mage was already behind them "Yeah! Ice Make: Ice Impact!"

Erza slashed the dragon once more and that along, with Natsu's Dragon Roar, was enough to fell it.

"All right!"

* * *

"This might be the only time where your destructive habits were handy." Lucy deadpanned. "Of course, this is the almost the one time where it doesn't mean a thing."

"Heh, yeah, I guess so. We know the odds of something like this turning out again." Gray mused.

"Yeah, slim to none."

Through her rather fierce and downright scary interrogation, Erza learned that the group of people dealing with the dragon were actually researchers. This was a place they made to ensure that their discoveries would stay secret until they say otherwise. It turned out that this all happened because they were trying to study a fire crystal they had come across. Fire crystals could be used in some great energy resources so they wanted to know how to make one and the dragon and the lizard emerged in a result of their tampering. The monsters in their job request were also similar energy masses they had barely managed to handle.

"So the crystal went out of control causing all that heat." One of them said at last while the rest finished their work to get the crystal's power back under control.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused the people?" Erza glared.

Like any other sensible people faced with such fury, they couldn't help but quiver "We're sorry!"

"I feel bad for them." Happy said.

"I don't, they shouldn't have even gone this far. I mean setting up that seal and getting us through all this mess? We better be done here." Gray saw Natsu lying on the floor. "What's with you?"

"He says he's starving." Happy supplied.

"Oh, come on. We'll just look for something on our way back."

"But that takes way too long!" Natsu argued.

Gray was about to retort when they saw Hope walking over "Hey, Natsu. Try this." He gave the dragon slayer what looked like a piece of red rock.

Confused but seeing no reason to argue, Natsu did so. The rest looked surprised.

"Hope, what did you give him a piece of the fire crystal for? That could be dangerous." Lucy demanded.

"Why did you even take it?" Gray asked Natsu.

Erza agreed "Really, I thought you knew better."

"Whooa!" Natsu let out.

"See?"

"No, I mean whoa, as in this stuff is awesome! I feel great!"

At the confused looks that came his way, Hope explained "Fire crystals are said to be condensed flame and heat energy in its purest form so I thought it could help."

"Well, it worked great." After giving him a grateful look, Natsu turned to the others. "You guys should seriously know better by now. There's no way Hope would give any of us something dangerous."

The three couldn't deny that the statement was completely true so what else could they say besides "We're sorry."

Happy smiled a bit, mentally agreeing with Natsu as he watched the scene "Natsu's actually scolding them. Never thought I'd see the day."


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, well, looks like we've got some lost fairies here."

Gray scowled at the approaching punks surrounding them, sensing trouble. Natsu's eyes narrowed beside him, clenching a fist.

"Don't think we're going to let you leave our turf easily." one of them sneered.

"You idiots don't know who you're messing with." Natsu growled before looking back at their friends. "Just hang back, we got this."

Happy nodded "Okay..."

* * *

The following fight was done in minutes. The entire team was worn out but that wasn't stopping Natsu and Gray, who for once were in no mood for a fight and just planned to get back to their guild.

Mira's face lit up when she saw them walk in "There you are! Is everything okay? We were getting worried."

"Yeah, let's just say things got messy..." Happy landed on the table.

They had found a letter requesting help to a town near Linali on their way home and after some rest, decided to see what it was about. In the process, they ran into an injured man named Logan Hunter and helped him. The man admitted that he hadn't known about the letter but he had been on his way to get their town some help. He explained that their town was being oppressed by a powerful dark mage who was after a rare mineral from their mines that can be used to make various things. Zoldeo, the dark mage from the Balam Alliance, had also extorted the people with taxes and punished them if they failed to comply with his orders. Their town had skilled fighters but none of them stood a chance against Zoldeo. After their attempts at resisting, the man had gotten smart and decided to get some people to monitor them and make sure that they didn't get help. It didn't always work but whatever help they could get, didn't work.

Mira, Makarov and Levy stared with surprise clear on their faces at the explanation. The last said "So what happened?"

"We were already there, you know? We weren't going to just leave things that way." Gray stated. "I don't know where he got those guards but they were a piece of cake. That bastard was the problem."

"He was possessing a celestial spirit, a zodiac to be precise." Erza took over. "But part of the problem was that his subordination magic weakened us, and he took complete advantage of that."

"Then what did you do?" Mira asked, wide-eyed, not noticing that a good number of their friends had stopped to listen.

But Makarov knew. He gave Hope a questioning look. The boy must've known what had in mind because he nodded. "So you overused Endymion's power again. We've been through this."

Endymion was the name of the phoenix whose soul had been infused with Hope's magical core years ago. This made him stronger and able to call on his powers when necessary. He and the bird had been connected through their souls for just that long too.

"I know, sorry." The weariness in his tone was clear for all to hear but Hope continued. "But there wasn't any other way. When he found out about us, Zoldeo started planning to kill everyone in town. Things were so bad then that some of them were dying anyway. With some of the things the people told us, we dragged him out of the town and to a trap. The minerals in that cave were good for making magic tools and I guess a lot of them had celestial energy because they reacted to Zoldeo."

"Then Capricorn must have made use of it, because he started fighting Zoldeo for control." Lucy added. "So we trapped him in that room and Natsu made sure Hope could nail him with one of those bullets that stop use of magic for a while."

"And we hammered him like mad." Natsu informed. "It was just like with the vulcans, we had to force him out of Capricorn. He was a pain for sure. Though to be honest...I don't know if you can call that a win."

"Yeah...after the plan worked, he showed up in his real form, looking all tired and...well, he just vanished." Lucy finished awkwardly.

"I can imagine. That kind of magic is definitely forbidden, there's always a price to pay when you commit such taboo acts." Makarov nodded. "Still, now we know what took you so long."

"Yeah, we were just getting a break but Erza thought it was better if we come back here as soon as possible and make sure not to freak you all out." Gray explained.

"Sure sounds like it was a mess. You guys handled it nicely." Levy praised with Makarov nodding next to her.

"Thanks."

"I think we all want some rest after this though." Lucy added with a sigh.

Mira smiled at her "You earned it. I'm not Porlyusica but I can help with some first aid."

"That sounds very nice. Thank you, Mira." Erza smiled, standing.

* * *

Natsu groaned as Mira wrapped bandages around his torso "This is the first time I really appreciate Hope fixing us up..."

"Well, I'll try to go gently but it can't be helped." Both looked at Hope and found him sleeping one of the beds.

"Yeah, I know. Using Endymion's power like that really exhausts him."

"Hey, Happy, I think you said that before...what did you mean?" Lucy tilted her head a little.

"Hope can keep Endymion's form up for about 12 minutes. He can extend the limit depending on the magic he uses but that's normally it."

"Whoa, 12 minutes?!" Lucy stared, realizing how serious this was since Hope had definitely kept it up longer than that.

"Natsu, didn't you say that injury was almost healed?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, that was before Erza punched me there on the train to knock me out."

Mira sighed "Of course this is still going. Why am I not surprised?"

Erza rolled her eyes "I've been wondering, Endymion. Do you have any idea what those shards are supposed to be?"

'I'm afraid not.' The phoenix spoke at last. 'They do seem to have quite the power around them.'

"How come you're awfully quiet?" Happy asked.

'I thought it was right to give anyone enough time to get used to my presence before acting like everything was normal.'

Lucy blinked when she realized that meant her and shook her head. The telepathy would take getting used to but she wasn't complaining "I'm good. Don't hold back on my account."

She started recalling the first time she lay eyes on the phoenix...

* * *

**It was right in the middle of the battle, they were facing a good number of the grunts when Zoldeo showed up again. He was angry when he saw how badly his side he failed. **

**"Why you damn brats! Don't push your luck!"**

**With that, he started fighting them again. Cancer had tried to stop him but Lucy was forced to send him back when he was overpowered. What really threw her off was the little talk they had.**

**"So what's with the name, huh, 'Zoldeo?'" Cancer sneered. "What do you think you're doing, ebi?"**

**Zoldeo simply smirked "I don't owe you any explanation. You don't stand a chance against me." **

**He proceeded to strike the crab down. Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself up "Lucy, that's no dark mage, ebi. He's the Zodiac Capricorn."**

**"What?!"**

**Happy's eyes widened "He's one of you? But spirits can't stay on this world for long right?"**

**"Usually," he grunted. "...Something's really wrong though. I think he's..."**

**"You're done!" Zoldeo charged, fed up with the talk. **

**"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" **

**Natsu landed in front of Cancer, scowling when he saw that it missed. Lucy took the opportunity to send her spirit back to recover.**

**Zoldeo's eyes narrowed "It's just like I thought. You're Layla's daughter."**

**She stared at him "You knew my mother?"**

**He smirked "Yeah, it's hard not to tell when you look so much like her. But enough talk..." **

**He proceeded to throw a flash bomb that blinded the group of four. They could tell he was getting another attack ready and struggled to find a way out of this. **

**Zoldeo's yelp made them realize something was off. When they could see again, they were surprised to see a golden phoenix striking the dark mage with his wing. Erza, who had come with the bird, immediately attacked their enemy.**

**"What is that?!" Lucy demanded, not noticing Natsu and Happy grin at the sight.**

**"A friend. But we'll fill you in later, let's get this done." Gray said.**

* * *

And fill her in they did. Apparently over 8 years ago, Hope had been captured by a dark guild and used in an experiment to revive Endymion, whose soul was sealed in a tablet. Out of all the people they worked with, only Hope survived. The experiment partially worked, but the resulting power was so much for them to control and Endymion used it to flee the scene. It was around that time that Igneel found them.

She couldn't imagine how terrible of an experience that was. Endymion wasn't exactly trusting and was put off by how their guild mates reacted when the truth came out, which was why he'd planned to avoid explaining this again for the time being. Lucy had decided to make sure that he wouldn't have anything to worry about there.

It was then that Makarov entered the infirmary "Oh, everything all right?"

"Yeah, what do you have there?" Happy pointed at the paper in his hand.

"That Logan fellow you mentioned sent a letter. He explained mostly everything you told me with some details. He says they're very grateful to you all and that he'll be sure to send the reward as soon as they get the town back on its feet."

"He's still on that? Boy, that guy's stubborn." Gray recalled the celebration after Zoldeo and his henchmen were taken care of. Logan had been feeling guilty about not being able to reward them, despite the team's reassurance that it was fine. They weren't expecting much of anything else with how Zoldeo bled everyone dry.

"Well, you did the right thing by me, all of you. Good job." Makarov said, earning smiles from them.

"Thanks!"

* * *

_Well, it look like the chapter was going to be short in either version. Oh, well, I like to think this is better. _

_Oh, should I post a chapter about this job or not? _

_Please Read and Review! _


	7. Chapter 7

_Whew, Hello to everyone who's reading this!_

* * *

"Man, that guy ticks me off..." Elfman grumbled as Laxus left.

Cana scowled "Think it's just you? I'll never get how he can have a brother like Hope."

"Can't blame you there, but if we're talking oddities there's one between Hope and this guy too," Gray said, looking at Natsu.

"Like what?" Natsu wanted to know.

"Like how you two get along so well. It's like day and night and it still works well with you."

"Well, opposites do attract, I suppose. If you ask me, this is a good thing," Erza said.

"I'm with her on this," Lucy chipped in.

"Yeah but it still weird..." Happy put in his piece. He might have been used to it at this point but there was no denying how surprised he was when Hope joined the guild and they got to know him.

Natsu gave him a flat look before saying "Well, it's true we didn't exactly get along at first. I thought Hope was okay but he was a bit of a crybaby and that really got on my nerves."

"Really?" Gray said with interest. He'd always wondered about them. Natsu had been thrilled when Hope joined the guild and he had no trouble showing the boy the ropes. He even told them a bunch of times about Hope way before the templar joined them. The boy proved to be an excellent teacher with all the things he taught Natsu in the short while they stayed together. That was another reason Gray had been particularly curious to meet him, to see if he was as Natsu claimed, and he found that he almost was. But something had seemed different, and even Natsu realized it. Hope had grown a little...cold. Okay, maybe that wasn't the right word but it was easy to see that he put up his guard plenty of times even if he was polite and kind. Natsu and Gray had tried to work on that and their guildmates helped after Makarov advised them to take it slowly because that kind of wariness can only come after being deeply hurt by his past. It worked well enough and the three were great friends now, still Gray would be lying if he said Hope's past didn't get him curious.

Hope always avoided talking about his life before joining the guild, the only bits they knew were those when he became the White Paladin. It was easy to tell that the brunet was withholding something, only Natsu, Lisanna and Makarov and oddly enough in Gray's opinion, Laxus, seemed privy to that knowledge.

"Igneel said to give him a chance, 'cuz Hope really had a million and one reasons to cry back then and he was right." The dragon slayer continued. "Next thing I know, the kid I pegged for a wimp is saving my life."

"Are we talking about the same person here?" Lucy asked. "Not that I don't believe you but it's hard imagining Hope as a wimp."

"Yeah, it's just not right..." Gray said and Erza nodded, looking confused as well.

"That's just it, he was anything but a wimp and it took me a while to figure that out."

"Come to think of it, Laxus mentioned something about this too, right? Something about what happened to Hope before joining the guild..." Erza trailed off as she saw Natsu frown at the memory. Somehow the expression tipped her off. "...You're not going to tell us, are you?"

"Nope, I promised not to." He said with a tone that implied it was a final decision.

"I thought it was weird when Hope believed your story about Igneel but I didn't think he actually knew him," Cana admitted, deciding to change the subject.

"You guys never asked."

"Yeah, guess not. So, how come you looked upset when you said Igneel would be pissed off if he found out about your big mistake?" She asked.

"You heard that?"

"Vaguely, I just remember because I thought it was weird."

Natsu frowned "It wasn't really...me and Igneel did mess up back then..." He walked away and only Erza heard him mutter the last part. "We never should've let him go."

What did he mean by that?

* * *

A few days later...

The atmosphere around the guild was heavy. Why? The Fairy Tail HQ had been attacked in the middle of the night and nearly wrecked by great iron pillars. The guild members were all in the basement, with Team Natsu demanding for the truth behind this.

"Phantom Lord?" Natsu scowled at the mention of the guild presumed by many to be their rivals.

Gray was no less pleased. "If you knew all this why aren't you doing anything?"

"There's no point. It was just a cowardly strike, coming in the middle of the night." Makarov said calmly. "It's not worth it."

"Gramps, this isn't the time to drink!"

"Hah, guess not. It's time for punishment." He smacked the fire and ice mages on the heads before spanking Lucy.

"Hey, why are you spanking me?" The blonde wanted to know.

Mira pouted "Master, I'll get angry."

"Anyway, the point is no one got hurt so it's fine. We'll just be operating here for the time being," he added, noticing his grandson's arrival. "Oh, Hope, perfect timing. Any chance you remember where those plans I had for renovating the guild were? Might as well get started on them."

"Y-yeah, you had me store them."

"Good, they'll sure come in handy now." Makarov left.

"I can't believe this..." Gray grumbled.

"Hope, don't tell me you agree with this? It's stupid!" Natsu said.

The boy looked back at him "Well, you heard him. This is really up to Grandpa."

"That's true besides conflict between the guilds is forbidden, remember that." Erza told the boys.

"So, is Master trying to avoid conflict because Phantom's strength is equal to Fairy Tail's?" Lucy guessed.

"I'd say so." She nodded.

* * *

Lucy had just arrived at her home to find the rest of Team Natsu lounging around. Erza was looking around the room curiously, Gray lay on the couch (_In his underwear, I might add_) and Natsu and Happy were on the bed.

"Hey, welcome home." The last two said.

Her jaw dropped comically at the sight. "What're you all doing in my house?!"

A sigh attracted her attention to Hope, who it seemed, had just arrived and was now standing behind her. "Sorry about this, Lucy. Erza figured we should stick around so we can watch around for each other in case Phantom attacks."

"Oh," well, she supposed that made sense. It occurred to her that Hope had refused to barge in when she wasn't there. She made a note to thank him for it later and invited the boy in.

It was a safer option but still that didn't excuse somethings...she thought as she smacked Happy for scratching the wall. "Don't do that!"

"You have a really nice place but why didn't you come to the dorm?" Erza asked, referring to the place where she stayed, Fairy Hills.

"I can't do that. It's way too expensive, I barely get the rent ready here." She answered, having calmed down somewhat.

"Hey, I forgot the fish..." Happy frowned. "I'm hungry. Hope, since we're here can you make me something?"

The templar raised an eye. "You know I don't mind but since we're here..."

"Oh, I don't mind if you use the kitchen," Lucy said, preceding the question she knew was coming next.

"Yay!" Happy cheered, landing on Hope's head as the teen left.

"Gotta say, I didn't know he can cook..." Lucy mused.

"Oh, you're in for a treat." Erza promised.

* * *

"That was good!"

"Mmhm, it definitely beats a lot of the stuff I've eaten for a while!"

"You just keep getting better, Hope!"

The boy smiled at the praise. Lucy lay against her bed post. "It feels like I can actually relax now."

"Yeah, guess we should get ready to go bed." Happy stood.

"There's one problem, your hygiene." Erza announced.

Natsu frowned "But I don't want to take a bath now..."

"I'm already in bed, Erza," Gray mumbled.

She smiled "Then why don't we take a bath together like we used to?"

"You guys bathed together?" asked Hope.

"Seriously?" Lucy added. "What kind of relationship did you have?"

"I don't want to remember those times..." Natsu moaned.

"Did you say something?" Erza queried.

"No..."

But restful as that night was, Team Natsu was in for quite a shock...

* * *

The following morning, they came across a crowd in Magnolia's park. Oddly the people seemed to be evade them and mutter among themselves...

"What's going on?" Happy froze when his eyes fell on the great tree before them.

There were Levy, Jet and Droy. All tied up to the tree and beaten badly and on Levy's stomach was the black mark of Phantom Lord.

"No way!"

"Levy-chan!"

"What happened here?"

Makarov came just after that, finding his guild members settling Team Shadow Gear down and grit his teeth in outrage.

Hope, who had been tending to their injuries to the best of his abilities, looked up at him. "Grandpa..."

"I know!" He interjected. "Destroying the guild hall...that I can put up with, but seeing the blood of my children...THIS MEANS WAR!"

* * *

In their headquarters, the members of Phantom Lord were all pleased with the attack on Fairy tail. A number of the guild mages imagining what this would do to them. One even laughed as he imagined the fairies running with their tails between their legs.

Little did they know they were in for a huge surprise.

Minutes later, their door was kicked down and the Phantom mages were shocked to see who it was.

"Fairy Tail's here!"

After that, it was pretty much pandemonium.

* * *

A huge battle had broke out between the two guilds. Spells were being fired, weapons clashed and destroyed. Natsu took the lead "Bring it!" He had no problem blowing through the mages unlucky enough to get in his way.

He gave one of his attackers a fiery punch that sent him crashing into a wall. Another enemy tried to sneak up on him only to be slammed by a streak of light that then landed behind the dragon slayer to reveal Hope.

"Why you..." The phantom mage sent out an energy blast at Hope in anger only for it to be frozen in place by a silver aura and reversed right back to sender.

The two friends shared a nod before taking down an attacker from each side and splitting up again.

Hope used Endymion's wings to fly towards their enemies. Truthfully, he didn't like this one bit. But Phantom Lord had hurt Levy and the others and he wasn't going to let them get away with it. He wasn't going to let anything threaten Fairy Tail, his family.

With his speed, it almost seemed like Hope was a blur. None of the attacks aimed at him hit their mark. He sent out a silver sphere of energy that made a group of Phantom mages freeze where they stood. Elfman quickly dispatched them with some well timed blows of his beast arm.

Loke touched his ring. "Ring Magic: Twister!" A mighty twister blew his attackers away.

Erza re-equipped into the Knight armor before going to take down every enemy in her path.

All in all, it was looking up for Fairy tail.

"Get him!"

Happy flew up to avoid two mages heading his way, making them hit each other. He whipped up a frying pan and smacked them both on the head, knocking them out.

He gave the three dumbfounded mages watching him a smug smile "Think I'm weak? I'm a Fairy tail mage too!"

Natsu stopped as he felt someone close and looked up to see a young man with messy black hair and red eyes with a wide grin.

"You finally made it, Salamander. I was starting to think you wouldn't come."

"Who the hell are you?"

The man just grinned and jumped off the pillar he was standing on. "Iron dragon's club!" His arm transformed into a long steel pipe which he aimed to attack Natsu but ended up hitting the ground.

"What the...wait, you're a dragon slayer?" He asked, noting the technique's name.

"Yeah, I'm Phantom's Dragon slayer, Gajeel Redfox," Natsu dodged another attack. Why did those pillars look familiar?

He and Gajeel clashed with a fist of fire and one of steel before jumping back. Gajeel's grin widened "Not bad, you might be worth my time after all."

"Say what?!" Natsu snarled. Who did this guy think he was?

Hope looked at the number of mages facing him and waved his hand, a glowing object appeared there then soon revealed to be his dual pistols. He fired two bullets. The next thing his enemies knew, they had changed into a golden bird that caused a powerful shock wave to throw them off. He stopped to use Maelstrom, taking advantage of its range to keep his attackers away and clearing out a crowd at the same time.

Hope cast Luminous Tornado to blow them away, throwing them all off balance as he continued to take them down. He then sent out two shining bullets that stuck two mages to the wall. A snap of his fingers then sent out two beams of light that struck anyone nearby down.

"Wait a second, the weapon...that skill with light magic." One of the mages said. "That kid's the White Paladin!"

"What?!"

"No way!"

"As in one of the guys who beat that guy from the Balam Alliance?" That was still a rumor to be confirmed but if it was true than they were in big trouble.

* * *

"Jose!" Makarov continued to run to the guild's second floor, taking down all the mages in his way. "Show yourself, coward!"

He didn't recall feeling so furious in a long time. Jose was definitely not getting away with this.

He went into the first door he found and found a great hall beyond it. Sitting on its only chair was a man with dark hair and a wicked smile clad in a purple outfit. This was Jose Porla, a wizard saint and guild master of Phantom Lord.

"It's been a while, Makarov."

* * *

Hope stopped and frowned. Something didn't feel right...

He closed his eyes for a second and opened them, his blue orbs gaining a golden tint as he scanned the battle field. No, it seemed normal...what was that then? He felt something that seemed to be...

His eyes widened and he looked at the second floor...

* * *

Makarov attempted to punch Jose with an enlarged fist only for it to go through him and into the wall. That could only mean...

"A projection? You really are a coward!"

"I'd rather avoid a fight between saints, you know. Too troublesome for my taste. I did get what I wanted though so I have no reason to be here." Jose said smugly.

Makarov raised an eye at the smirk, feeling something was up. He turned around in time to see a towering figure of a man wearing a hat, green jacket and orange pants behind him. He was reaching for Fairy tail's master with a wide grin. This was one of Phantom's Elite mages, the Element 4 and his name was Aria.

Then two beams of light shot out of the ground, one landing in front of Jose and the other striking Aria, making him howl in pain.

"What is this?" Jose demanded, stopping when he spotted a bullet lodged in the wall, glowing as it emitted a wave that formed a shield around Makarov. He could see that another one had wounded Aria's arm badly.

A moment later, Hope flew up and landed beside his grandfather.

"Ho, I didn't know Makarov had someone like you in his guild." Jose said, Hope glared back.

"So, it was true. You really weren't here from the start."

Jose raised an eye. Could the boy see through his projection? Interesting. "Well, it's like I told your master over there. I have no reason to waste my time here." He vanished.

"I don't know how you did that, brat. But I'll make sure you pay." Aria grabbed Hope's arm before he could react. Hope's eyes widened as he realized what the man was doing. He quickly froze Aria and jumped back, moving his arm carefully.

"Careful, Grandpa, it looks like that guy knows how to take our magic power." Hope said.

"All right, he won't get a chance to do it again." Makarov said, punching Aria hard.

* * *

Makarov had no problems in dealing with Aria but Fairy tail was forced to leave the building soon as one of their enemies had set up a trap that would make all the castle collapse.

"Come on, we gotta hurry!"

"Legs don't fail me now!"

Natsu grabbed the arm of the person he had been looking for.

Hope blinked confusedly at his best friend "What's going on? I need to stop this..."

"Never mind that now. They've got this covered."

Happy flew up to them "We need your help."

Hope gave them a quizzical look.

* * *

Lucy looked at the cowed form of Master Jose and turned to leave (He was in that state since she kicked him where the sun didn't shine). She had been left behind in Magnolia to take care of Team Shadow Gear but was kidnapped and brought to a tower by Juvia and Sol, two members of the element 4. Jose had made it clear that they were actually after her but she shuddered as she heard the reason why.

No, there wasn't time to think about that now. She had to get out of here!

"And where are you going?" Jose's voice came as she reached a dead end. "No one's going to save you from me." The guild master said, outraged. How could a girl do this to him?! He'd make sure she payed dearly.

"You're wrong." She said, jumping out the window behind her and praying that this would work.

Fortunately, as she discovered seconds later. It did.

"Lucy!"

Natsu had arrived just in time to catch her. Hope and Happy weren't far behind and the three wasted no time in trying to make sure she was okay.

"You guys...how did you..."

Happy grinned "Let's just say Hope's scan works in awesome ways." He's actually overheard one of the phantom mages mention kidnapping Lucy just before the mage left.

The templar untied her and Happy added "You all right?"

She didn't answer, making Natsu eye her closely. "Lucy?"

"I can't believe you guys came..." She said in a low voice.

"What are you talking about? Of course we would." Hope said, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, Lucy, you know that. What happened?" Natsu asked.

It was then that the three realized that the celestial mage was crying. The dragon slayer of the group blinked "Why are you crying?"

"Lucy, what's wrong?" Happy frowned.

"I'm sorry..." She said. "This is all my fault. It's only because I left that they did this...They're saying I have to go back but I don't want that." She looked up at them with tear filled brown eyes. "I really like being in Fairy tail with everyone so I want to stay."

"Well, then you can stay. It's simple!" Natsu said.

"Yeah, we like having you around too so no problem there." Happy said, getting a nod from Hope as he began tending to her injuries.

Their teammate then extended a hand to her, smiling. "Come on, let's go back, okay?"


	8. Chapter 8

"So, Lucy's actually from that rich Heartfilia family? Who knew..." Jet said when Levy finished telling them this.

"I don't get it. Her old man wants her back so he did this? What gives?" Cana asked.

Levy frowned. She could tell how guilty Lucy felt for all this, even when everyone assured that it wasn't her fault. She really liked Lucy and it felt awful to see her so upset. Her father was clearly a sore subject so Levy didn't have the heart to push the questioning any further. That didn't mean she wouldn't help the celestial mage though. "She didn't tell me either...I don't think it matters though. We can't let people like Phantom Lord take Lu-chan."

"Good point, we'll really knock their socks off next time." Jet grinned.

She smiled, happy to see that her friends felt the same as she did. "Yeah!"

* * *

"I'm surprised you all want to talk to me after this mess." Lucy admitted.

Natsu fell in step with her. "Would you relax? No one blames you for the attack. We don't know the whole story but you're still our friend so you can stay as long as you want to."

"Exactly, we could never let you go with people like that." Erza added, Hope nodded in agreement to both their statements, smiling at her.

"We'd still kick their butts any day of the week so if they wanna try something again, I say bring it." Gray smirked.

Lucy gave them a grateful smile "Thanks a lot." It had to be about the fifth time she thanked them already. Deciding to get to the subject at hand, she said "So, what did you want to talk about, Hope?"

* * *

"Gate of the Goat, I open thee! Capricorn!"

Out of the portal emerged a humanoid goat like spirit dressed in a tuxedo, with sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Man, those spirits come in a whole lot of forms..." Happy said, thinking about the spirits he saw so far. "Say, Lucy, do you have any fish spirits?"

"You mean besides Aquarius?"

"...Never mind."

"You sure lost interest fast." Gray said.

"She scares me." The cat admitted and the ice mage decided not to ask. He couldn't help but wonder if Aquarius was as bad as she was made out to be.

"So you're the real Capricorn, huh?" Natsu tilted his head a little.

"Indeed, I never had the chance to thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome. It's good to see you've recovered." Hope responded.

Capricorn then took a moment to look at his surroundings, they were now near the outskirts of Magnolia and entering the forest. "It's very nice to meet Lucy-sama's guild mates."

"Likewise," Erza nodded respectfully. "You certainly seem reliable."

"Say, Capricorn, Hope wanted to ask if you'd spar with him. Is that all right?" asked Lucy.

"Certainly."

"You want to train with him?" Natsu asked, making sure he heard right.

Hope nodded "It's just an idea I had, it would certainly be different. Thanks in advance, Capricorn!"

"You're very welcome, where should we do this?"

* * *

"That's my chosen little brother! Trying to be the best he can be and making the most of each day. Mm, I couldn't be more proud."

Erza thought that Hope had the right idea to train especially now, there was always room for improvement. And if their teammate with his weak body was still working hard to improve himself than why shouldn't they?

She wasn't sure why no one really responded to those thoughts when she voiced them. Well, she'd make sure they were motivated when the time came.

Actually, they were just trying to imagine how in the world someone as strong as Erza would train. Knowing her as they did, all they could see were some frightening and extreme methods. Happy wondered if she considered facing someone like Aquarius training, seeing as they were both really scary. That would be the day...

With that thought in mind, the redhead concentrated on the match about to start before them. She and her friends had taken to sit at the roots of a big tree while Hope and Capricorn stood in opposite sides of a field just beneath it.

"Hey, guys, I still don't get why Hope's actually doing all this. I mean someone with his condition shouldn't even be pushing himself." Lucy admitted.

"Well, we all wondered at one point or another but he's working things out just fine." Gray said.

"That's easy," The two looked at Natsu as he spoke. "...He wants to be strong. He doesn't like fighting but when he's always ready to defend a comrade. He's the kind of guy who'd just do his best at whatever it is he's doing and not sweat the small stuff."

"That was surprisingly well put," Erza smiled.

Gray thumped the boy on the back with a grin, getting an irritated glare in the process "As expected of the best friend! You guys really know each other."

Happy remembered asking Hope a similar question and being baffled by the answer. Hope didn't seem like someone who'd pursue strength without a strong reason. It was then that the templar had confided in him the true reason. A number of people from his old home were killed in front of him when he was 6 and he hated how helpless he was at the time. He wanted to get stronger and make sure nothing like that ever happened again. Happy completely understood the feeling and rooted for his friend from then on.

* * *

Hope quickly switched to sword form before jumping to dodge Capricorn's kick. With his weapon, he'd come to do moderately well in long and close range. His guild mates' advice (mainly Makarov, Gray, Erza and Loke) had improved his style and with experience, his weapon was very easy to use.

"I should have known you'd have something to do with this." was all Lucy said when Happy explained this to her.

Not missing a beat, the templar somersaulted and landed behind Capricorn, striking his arm and leg with the sword, which had been covered by a veil of solid light to avoid injuries, before being pushed back by a punch. Pulling another back flip, he balanced himself and cast Thousand Ray, which missed but an unfazed Hope charged in and struck Capricorn's leg again.

The spirit caught his leg and retaliated, Hope thought fast and surrounded his body with an aura of light that startled Capricorn into dropping him. The white paladin then went to strike the spirit on the chest with a bullet that turned into a sphere of light which blinded his opponent before taking the chance to use a weaker version of Luminous Tornado.

"He can actually shoot like that? Nice!" Gray said, impressed at the move.

"Nicely done." Hope smiled at his opponent's praise. "You're much stronger than I expected."

"You do realize I couldn't fight you with my full strength back then."

"I do." Both remembered the spirit's oppressor, Zoldeo and his subordination magic. "Which is why I've been meaning to ask, how is it that you were able to deal with that trick?...And what you did at the end of the fight..."

"...Let's just say I'm a bit of a special case for now. The other part's complicated...and to explain it I'll have to get into some things I'd rather not mention, let alone remember."

"Then let's leave it at that." Capricorn said. He could certainly understand that. But all talk aside, it was time to finish this fight. The two engaged in close combat then, Capricorn was surprised but pleased at the fact that he never once managed to knock Hope's dual blades away from their owner. The boy handled his weapon very well. He had a hard time dodging those bullets too, showing how skilled his opponent was in treating his weapon like an extension of his body.

"Hope's really strong but he handles himself differently from most somehow..." Lucy mused.

Happy completely agreed. Watching him fight was different from the rest of their teammates and he knew why "Yeah, it's because he's more of a technical fighter, relying on skill. He can really think outside the box and he makes use of his magic in way you'd never expect."

He dodged Hope's Maelstrom, which gave him time to stun his opponent with an elbow to the gut before unleashing a flurry of strikes. Hope managed to dodge the last two and dropped a sent out four spheres of light that danced around Capricorn before letting out energy beams that grazed the spirit as he destroyed two spheres.

Noticing how his next Thousand Ray failed, Hope decided that it was enough. "...Sorry, but I think I'm going to call this off. If we keep this up, I don't think I'll be able to do much of anything later."

Correctly understanding that the boy was reserving his stamina, Capricorn nodded "Understandable. Allow me to say that it was a good fight."

"Hope's way tougher than I thought," Lucy said as she applauded their friends.

Natsu grinned "He just keeps getting better."

"I'd watch out Natsu, he may very well defeat you." Erza said with a smirk.

"What?! No way!"

"I wouldn't be so sure. I know my student after all. He's gotten so far that he improved his sword style immensely."

"And I told you, you're wrong!"

Lucy blanched "Hope actually studied under Erza?"

"I had the same reaction but no. He just wanted tips from her," Gray answered with a shrug. Studying under the overly serious redhead was not something he'd wish on anybody...

"Erza's playing him like a harp if you ask me..." Happy said flatly.

"Lucy-sama, are you interested in training? I'd be more than happy to help you." Capricorn offered.

"Hmm...not today, but I'll make sure to get back to you on that." She replied.

"Very well." He returned to the spirit world.

"Natsu, you totally lost me, what are you talking about?" Hope asked. Why would he be asking for a fight now?

"What? We haven't one in forever right? Time to see how much better we got!"

There were times when he'd ask his best friend for a fight out of boredom. Hope didn't have any problem obliging occasionally and a number of them would end in a draw.

Shaking his head, Hope said "Why not? You're going to have to wait on it, though."

"Yeah, I know. Watching you go at it, got me totally psyched for action."

"You were fighting before we left the guild."

"Ah, that? It's just the usual thing, it doesn't count. Anyway, let's grab a bite before anything."

Happy flew up to them. "You're going to eat before you fight? I thought you'd want the other way around."

"Well, we're not supposed to eat before we go at it, right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that goes for swimming..."

"Yeah?"

Erza, Lucy and Gray fell into step with the three once Lucy dismissed Capricorn. The celestial mage sighed "He's even picking a fight with Hope of all people...I get the feeling I should be surprised but I'm really not."

Gray laughed "Now you're getting the hang of things, Luce. It's Natsu, what did you expect?"

* * *

Eventually, the guild members took to training of their own as they knew Phantom was coming for revenge any day...

The day just came sooner than they expected.


	9. Chapter 9

"Oh-hoh," Aria grinned, looking down from their guild's mobile HQ as the members of Fairy tail came to take a look at the sight approaching Magnolia. "The weaklings already recovered? They must have some impressive healer."

Hope's memoria magic wasn't healing per say, but it worked wonders in helping Team Shadow Gear recover from the beating Gajeel gave them.

"Weaklings?!" Droy scowled.

Jet growled "All you guys are good at is sneaking up on people so come on here and let's see what you got."

"And why should he bother? We have you right where we want you." Jose's voice rang through the air, a cannon appeared in the front of the HQ's gates. "Either hand over Lucy Heartfilia or let Magnolia be obliterated by the power of Jupiter the magical cannon!"

"Now who didn't see that coming?" Gray asked. "They probably already know our answer too."

"Yeah, get ready," Erza growled.

"It's not like we're trying to kidnap her," Jose continued. "We were commissioned by her father to return her safely."

Makarov knew Jose thought he had a slim chance of avoiding a fight, something he dismissed with a snort. "Oh, yeah? And you really think we'll let her go after all this?"

"Exactly! If Lucy doesn't want to go back then we won't let you force her!" Natsu said.

"Yeah, as if we're going to hand Lu-chan over to you people!" Levy added.

This was followed by the rest of the guild staunchly supporting the statement.

"Come off it!"

"Yeah, she ain't going no where!"

"You're just spouting crap to satisfy your actions!"

"Everyone..." Lucy wanted to stop them and tell them that it was very much true.

Mira looked at her "Lucy, I hope you're not actually considering that suggestion."

"You said you love being in Fairy tail because it feels like a real family, well plenty of us agree. The guild's a home to many of us," Hope paused. "If you feel so strongly about this then you decide what you want to do. We don't know your circumstances but as your friends, we'll help you."

"Exactly," Makarov nodded. They could see how all this troubled her and agreed to wait until she felt up to telling them everything. Even with that said, they would make sure to protect the girl from Phantom and support her in what she chose to do. "We can clear that situation later, the one thing we can agree on is that you can't go with that bunch. Nothing good will come of it, I can tell you that. You want to stay? You're more than welcome, let's just get rid of the pests first."

Hope smiled warmly at her "You're one of us, so of course we're helping you. It'll be all right. They can't stop us all if we work together."

Lucy gave him a shaky but very real smile "Yeah!"

Jose then spoke, his voice turning cold. "I see talking big runs in the family, Makarov. Tell me how you'll get rid of this to help your friends?" Even though they couldn't see it, it was clear from his tone that the enemy leader was sneering.

At this, Jupiter fired. Many didn't know what to do with the massive energy blast headed their way.

Grimacing, Erza prepared to try and block it when Hope walked past her till he was a safe distance away from them. She was about to go when she realized that the boy was casting a spell, did he actually have anything that helped in this situation?

"Spirits that sing of all that is pure, you who protected us from the dawn of time, grant me your power." Hope chanted, a silver spell circle surrounded him and Jupiter at that. "Sacred Trigram: Guardian Field!"

The circles flashed and two energy rings came out of them, surrounding the magical blast. At the same time, a golden energy dome surrounded Fairy tail's side. Hope concentrated his energy and the rings shone in response to the surge, making the blast freeze when it neared the dome. Hope waved his hand around and the blast flashed before surging down and striking Phantom's HQ.

"Impossible!" Jose said in a choked voice as the structure started to crash to the ground.

"Awesome!" Natsu cheered with his friends.

Hope swayed a little in his place before he fell back, surprised when he landed in Erza's arms. She smiled "Great work."

He smiled weakly back before whispering something in her ear. Her brown eyes narrowed a bit as she saw a shadow nearing her friends. "I should have thought so. Leave things to us now."

His smile returned after that for a moment before he gave into his exhaustion and promptly passed out. That spell had consumed a lot of his magic power. Erza placed him against a tree before taking a sword and going on to strike at it with a burst of speed that made her seem like a blur.

Before they quite knew, a man clad in a earthy brown tuxedo emerged out of the spot she hit with a scowl. He was about to attack again when Makarov's enlarged fist stopped him in his tracks, the man was fast enough to just avoid it.

"Who the heck is that?" Gray asked.

"It's just like Hope said after all..." Erza mused, getting ready to attack again.

"Che, that boy is much more troublesome than I anticipated." The man said in a displeased tone, thinking it was luck that let the boy save his grandfather from their trick in the first battle but clearly it wasn't so simple. "It seems I'll have to dispose of him as well."

"Oh, yeah?" Natsu snarled, as he and Elfman positioned himself in front of the unconscious White Paladin with Mira going behind them to pick the boy up. "Just try it, I dare you."

"Hold up, Natsu, you all should go to their HQ." Elfman piped up.

"No way..."

"He's right, this time we're going to end this mess. Hope took care of that troublesome cannon so what we'll have to deal with will be their members." Makarov said.

"...All right, beat him up real good, you hear?" Natsu asked.

Elfman grinned "Who do you think you're talking to?" Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza and Makarov left.

"Lucy, be careful, I trust you know what to do now." Erza called.

"Yeah, don't worry about me!" She nodded, putting on a determined face. All right, she knew what to do now. She won't let her friends down. Mira and Cana had suggested hiding her when they saw Phantom's base coming but she adamantly refused the idea. No way she would stay and hide when her guild was fighting for her. She helped Mira carry Hope, remembering the boy's words. She instantly knew he was right. Lucy wanted to stay in Fairy tail and she would be more than happy to fight for her freedom and her guild with all her strength. With that thought in mind, she grabbed a key.

"Gate of the Archer, I open thee! Saggitarius!"

* * *

"Hey, what are those?"

Natsu looked up at Happy's inquiry, seeing that the cat was pointing outside. A horde of eerie dark figures left the HQ, all heading in the same direction. "What the heck..."

"Those would be Master Jose's shade troopers." A man with black and white hair wearing a mostly orange outfit came out of the shadows. "And they're heading to annihilate your friends now."

"Yeah? You guys didn't learn from last time, huh? Who do you think is going to do the annihilating here?"

"You're the ones who ran away before." The man pointed out calmly. "Make no mistake, you lot stand no chance against us. I, Totomaru the Great Fire of the Element 4, will be the one to defeat you!"

* * *

Elfman grunted as he tried to punch Sol, who responded by diving into the ground again. He attempted another Take over, changing his arm into a scaly red and green form. He could see with the corner of his eye, his comrades fighting the eerie shades. Thing is, what ever they seemed to hit him with never worked. They would just reform like nothing happened. The odds weren't good at all...

"Take this, moshi-moshi!" Saggitarius fired a couple of arrows at the approaching shades. Clearing out a way for Mira to get into the guild and place Hope inside. The boy had yet to awaken, not that she expected anything else. What he did before was no small feat after all. She decided to dismiss Saggitarius and try summoning a spirit with more power to help. By no means was she willing to give up.

* * *

Erza and Makarov ended up going in the same direction. Only for their path to be blocked by what appeared to be a massive shade twice their size.

"What in the world is that?"

Jose's voice could be heard as he laughed, reverberating through the formerly floating castle. "You're fast but can you do something about this?"

"I can." Erza snarled, knowing the best course of action. "Master, you should go stop him. Leave this abomination to me."

"All right, be careful!"

The redheaded mage gripped her sword tightly as she took a battle stance.

* * *

"You're persistent. How about this? Purple fire!"

Natsu dodged the purple flames headed towards him and scowled. He couldn't seem to hit Totomaru at all. The man claimed to be able to control all types of fire magic, was it true?

"I told you it's pointless." Totomaru smirked when his following attack hit. "Fire magic is completely useless against me."

He blinked when Natsu swallowed his flame "Who do you think you're talking to? If you think you can take me down like that then you've got another thing coming, pal!"

Totomaru just grinned, finally realizing who his opponent was "Well, this will be interesting...guess it evens things out."

* * *

Jose smirked as he watched Fairy tail fighting his shades from a lacrima in the main hall of his HQ. "It's useless to resist. The shades are cursed beings who sap your life once they touch you. You're only stalling for time. We will be ready to launch Abyss Break soon."

Cana blasted one of the shades back with her magic and stepped back. She, Lucy and Taurus were standing near the guild.

Mirajane was tending to Hope inside, wishing she could do something else to help. But even as an S-Class Mage, she had lost her powers after that incident three years. She looked through the window and noticed that while their guild mates were still fighting the shades, there was no sign of Elfman or Sol anywhere. This just made her worry more, not without good reason...

"Wonder why that guy lead Elfman back to their HQ." Lucy muttered.

"He can take care of himself. Elfman's a Fairy tail mage too after all," Cana said. "What I really want to know is what's Abyss Break?"

She turned to Cana at that, coming to the door. Only she never got to answer because of what happened next...

* * *

"Hm, so the rumors are true, it seems." Sol said with a french accent as he dodged Elfman's blow. "Come now, I'm one of the Element 4, do you really think you can take me down with such a weak form?"

"I'm a Man, I'm not weak!" Elfman snapped, offended.

"Really? So why are you using your Take over magic on just your arm?" Sol asked. "I know about you, you're that demon Mirajane's brother. Since she had the ability to take that powerful form, it would make sense that you do with your magic." Sol stopped to dodge another punch. "Ah, pardon moi, I've forgotten. She lost her power in that incident, didn't she? Such a shame, all that talent wasted..."

Elfman snarled, trying to hit again. "Shut up! Don't mock Nee-chan!"

"Roche concerto!" Rocks began falling on him, a smirking Sol appeared behind the rocks. "From what I recall, you lost control of your take-over magic. Your sisters tried to stop you but they couldn't. No wonder you're afraid to try it again..."

Elfman growled as his attempts to counterattack just continued to fail. He changed his arm into the Iron bull's again and went to attack when a familiar figure rose before him that made him freeze in his spot.

It was of a girl with remarkable similarity to Mirajane wearing a pink shirt and red dress over it. She was pale and her eyes were dull but this was without a doubt, their younger sister. "L-Lisanna..."

"Ah, pardon," Sol spoke up. "I happened to look into your memories when you came earlier so this is the girl? Where...Ah, I forgot. Excuse my manners, she's dead."

* * *

Natsu growled with frustration. This was getting them no where!

Happy observed this with a frown "They're completely even, fire magic's useless here..."

Mentally agreeing with this, Natsu decided to drop the magic and just engage in close combat with his enemy. Totomaru smirked then, bringing out a katana.

Minutes passed as the two continued the fight, both not giving an inch. It was looking to be another stalemate when Natsu suddenly stepped back and began casting another spell. Totomaru rolled his eyes "You never learn, Salamander. That's useless on me."

"Oh, yeah?" Natsu just summoned a bigger flame that surrounded him then before he started running and preparing to attack again.

Totomaru tried to redirect it, and ending up shocked to realize he couldn't._ 'This guy...since when could he do this?...'_

"Lesson number one," Natsu began, giving a fire powered kick that had him reeling. "My flames are mine alone, don't move them without my permission! And number two..." He gave the man a powerful punch that sent him crashing into the wall.

"Don't mess with Fairy tail."

* * *

Elfman's eyes widened at the sight before him. Mirajane was being held by a rock fist conjured by his enemy!

"Like the little surprise?" Sol asked. He had spotted her earlier and decided to bring her to watch. It was too easy to do so with his golems.

"You bastard, let her go!"

"Not a chance, we do have to get rid of you all to complete our mission so she's a target as well. I thought it would be nice to have some audience here."

Elfman stood, and the earth member of the element 4 continued. "You're just a big mouth who runs off talking about manliness. As I am a gentleman, I find that unforgivable. Allow me to make you one with the land." A magic circle appeared over Elfman "Sealing Magic: Merci La Vie."

"No!" Mirajane gasped, trying to break free. He was turning her brother to stone! "Elfman!"

* * *

Elfman fell to his knees as the memories continued. It was awful, first it was one of his memories with Lisanna when they were kids and he even remembered watching them leave as Lisanna bid Natsu, Happy and Hope goodbye. Lisanna's attempts to make his beast form regain control failed and that ended up in her death...

Elfman was had nearly turned to stone at this point, but in his mind, he was watching a memory of him and Mira by their sister's grave. He had blamed himself for this but Mira assured him that it wasn't their fault and that it was just Lisanna's time had come. They then promised to live their lives fully in her place.

* * *

"Elfman!"

Sol smiled "I wouldn't waste my breath, madame. He's done."

A tear slipped past Elfman's cheek as he stood, the stone cracked and fell off his body as it radiated with power. "I made a promise that time...Never to see Nee-chan's tears again! I'll become a man strong enough to protect her! Lisanna died because of my powerlessness and I'll do whatever I can to not feel like that again."

Mira realized what he was up to and cried "Elfman, no! Don't..."

But he was then enveloped by the power and massive beast took his place, it let out a massive roar.

"I-Impossible!" Sol gaped, starting to feel worried. The beast stepped towards him, making him sweat. "A-a-ll I did was give you a t-trial t-t-to overcome your past! And you did it! You're the manliest among men!"

But it didn't do any good and the beast wasted no time in beating him down and leaving him unconscious.

"Elfman?" Mirajane said tentatively when he lowered her to the ground.

Her brother turned back to his human form. "I'm sorry...you probably never wanted to see that again. It's only because I couldn't control it that..."

She shook her head, smiling and giving him a hug. "I told you before, that wasn't your fault. I'm still here with your help. We're still going to live her share, right?"

"...Right." He answered in a choked voice, hugging her back.

* * *

Gray arrived at the roof "Huh...when did it start raining?..."

A figure in blue stood in the shadows, watching him "...Drip, drip, drop."

* * *

_And we're done with this one!_

_I wasn't going to write it the same as the anime. The fights slowly change up as I continue the story. The chapter was going to be way too long if I didn't split in two...I think I'll finish the fights next time._

_Please read and review!_


	10. Chapter 10

No matter how he thought of it, he just didn't get it.

Gray ran into Juvia, the Rain Woman of the Element 4 on the roof and they soon engaged in battle. What he really didn't get was the woman's odd behavior. She was mumbling something he couldn't hear. He was sure he spotted her blushing as he started casting another spell. Were his eyes playing tricks on him or something?

Now Gray wasn't thick when it came to things like this but he had no way of knowing then that Juvia was actually falling for him. They were enemies in war after all.

"There's no point in this." Juvia said as Gray's ice lance hit her, making parts of her body fade out. "Juvia's body is made from water so you can't stop Juvia. Just hand over Lucy Heartfilia and Juvia will convince Master to stop the battle. Juvia promises."

"No way." responded Gray. "This has gone too far to just stop and Lucy's my comrade. I won't hand her over to you lot even if it costs me my life."

That statement, concise as it was, had quite the effect on Juvia.

Gray was surprised when the place was her next attack struck left steam, it took him a few moments to realize that this was boiling water. Juvia was enraged now, thinking that Gray was in love with Lucy which is why he was going so far for her.

She would not take this.

* * *

Lucy watched the proceeding battle with a frown. Taurus had reacted earlier when the mud golems emerged to catch her and stopped them but they left with Mirajane before anyone could stop them. The only comfort was that Makarov and the others were in the Giant Mage now and they would save her. There wasn't much else to do since the shades were blocking their path to the structure.

The problem was that those shades were relentless. Whatever they did just didn't work. She was at a loss at what to do. The celestial mage once considered handing herself over to stop this but she was quickly stopped by Cana and Reedus, who assured that her that they would all fight with all they had. They would not let Phantom win.

* * *

"It's the end!"

Gray grimaced as he took the jet of boiling water and slowly began to froze it, much to Juvia's shock. But he also ended up freezing Juvia herself and with that position his hand was on her breast!

He freaked out, his eyes bugging out of their skull for a moment as he yelped "Sorry, my bad!"

Juvia just blushed, blinking in surprise when he released her from the ice. "...You are so kind."

"Ah...er, let's start over, yeah?"

"...I can't hurt you."

"You mean you got no shot here?"

"I'm stronger than Lucy. I can protect you."

"Wait, what?"

Seeing the ice mage's confusion, Juvia decided to admit the truth. "I...love..."

Gray frowned as he looked up "...The rain's getting stronger...it's starting to become depressing."

Something in Juvia snapped then as memories of her childhood surfaced. Kids wouldn't play with her and called her gloomy because she brought rain with her. She couldn't even have a relationship because of that. Phantom Lord just took her in, faults and all.

"I'm a Phantom Mage!" She declared. "Juvia of the Element 4!" She broke out of the ice and charged at Gray with boiling water.

"Yeah, I know." Gray prepared himself. "So I'm not losing here! Ice Make: Geyser!"

Even if she was caught in the attack, Juvia couldn't help but be in awe of the result. Gray had even frozen the rain!

She began to fall as the ground underneath fell apart, thinking it was a fitting end. Gray surprised her by catching her hand and pulling her up.

"You, why...?"

"So, cooled down now?" He asked calmly.

The sun began to shine then, and Juvia cried.

"Feel like going another round?" Gray stood.

Juvia promptly fainted then, confusing him.

* * *

Natsu and Happy had ran into Aria and promptly the first and the last got into battle. But Natsu was losing badly, he couldn't even see Aria's magic and it was completely blocking him off.

The two momentarily stopped when the wall crashed to their right and Erza came out, facing the massive shade trooper.

"What is that?!" A freaked out Happy said.

"Hey, it kinda looks like those things outside..." Natsu observed.

"That's because it is. Whatever we hit them with, they just reform. I'm stopping this one and Master's gone to face Jose, what's going on here?" Erza inquired.

"Just dealing with this guy..." Natsu said as they stood with their backs behind each other as they faced their enemies. "You getting tired yet, Erza?"

"I'm going to take that as a joke and ask you the same thing." She replied with a smirk.

Natsu grinned back and used Fire Dragon's Roar on Aria who blocked with Airspace.

"Well, since Titania's here it's time I got serious." Aria said. "...It's sad that both your heads are going to roll."

* * *

"This is bad...everyone's getting tired..." Bisca muttered.

Alzack stepped next to her. "I don't blame them. Nothing we ever do works, they're losing spirit and that's the problem."

"We can't lose here. Natsu and the others are fighting the main forces." Cana reminded, she noticed something flash from the corner of her eye and felt a little power come back to her.

What the heck?

"Yeah, if they think we'll lose here than they have another thing coming." Macao nodded.

* * *

And the fight continued, the fairy tail mages were well matched here but the shades just came back again and again.

Loke inwardly growled, it's like things just got worse and worse. If all this wasn't bad enough than Gajeel coming to take Lucy was definitely a big problem.

The dragon slayer grinned as he knocked Taurus aside with a metal club "That all you got?"

Lucy scowled back and called him back before summoning Capricorn, who stood protectively before her.

* * *

The sounds of the battle were resounding in the currently empty guild. Hope opened his eyes to find himself lying propped against a wall, confused. Why was he so tired?

Oh, yeah...he remembered casting Guardian Field. Wait, by the sound of it, his friends were still fighting. He cringed as he tried to stand soon, realizing that he couldn't just yet. Hope scowled, he could see a shade reform through the window after an attack hit. There was no way he would watch them fight without doing anything.

Then an idea came to him. That could work, at least it could help until he could move properly. With the thought in mind, he used his remaining power to cast a spell. He had an idea on how to deal with the shades and so imbued his memoria magic in it. It was lucky the templars knew methods to mix their magic with that of the elements. He had used those to come up with a spell of his own.

"Saint Air."

* * *

Gajeel stopped when he saw something flash in the guild. That looked a lot like a magic circle. So they had someone hiding in there?

He didn't get to think about it because then numerous silver tinted spheres of light came out of the building and struck all the shades, making them freeze up and then disappear. It didn't stop at that. The spheres then merged together to form two birds of pure light, one flew to the giant mage while the other let out three beams of light that hit Gajeel and his guild mates, making them lose consciousness and the dragon slayer grunt as he jumped back.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, she noticed that her guild mates were smiling.

"...He's as reliable as ever." Loke said.

Macao grinned "You said it."

* * *

Elfman and Mirajane noticed the bird approaching the mage and the second smiled.

"Nee-chan, is that...?"

"Yup, we got all the help we need here. Look."

They could see that the shade troopers were gone. Elfman grinned "Awesome!"

* * *

Makarov was dealing with a number of shades himself when the bird sailed past him and flew through them, it instantly obliterated them into nothing.

The guild master smiled, count on Hope to help even now.

* * *

The bird's last stop was at the place where Natsu and Erza were fighting Aria and the shade, the bird tackled the mage first before taking the shade out.

"That's..." Erza began, she, Natsu and Happy then smiled.

"What is this magic? It even got through my barrier?!" Aria said.

"I told you he was getting stronger, didn't I?" Erza smirked to the pink haired dragon slayer, who grinned back

"I figured that one out on my own, Erza."

* * *

"Huh, so this is the one that did it..."

Loke whirled around at that, alarmed. Through the commotion, Gajeel had entered the guild and come across the currently exhausted Hope, who had used up all his power and so was fighting to stay conscious.

"So, a kid did all that? Guess Fairy tail picks some decent people..." Gajeel muttered.

"Leave him alone!" Lucy shouted.

"Fine by me. He looks like he'll be troublesome for now." The iron dragon slayer said, he could sense a powerful aura surrounding the boy even now. A part of him was wondering who the heck the kid was but he knew he had to get to business "You're the one I'm here for anyway."

* * *

Erza had no problems defeating Aria after that. The real trouble started when Jose arrived. She knew the man was a wizard saint and she doubted that anyone besides their Master stood a chance against him. Jose likely knew that too, why else would he avoid a battle between wizard saints?

Natsu growled when he took down Gray and Elfman quickly, preparing to attack himself. But Erza stopped him "Natsu, remember what Aria said. Gajeel's going after Lucy, so he'll likely be fighting against our friends now. You need to get there. I know you can beat him and protect her. I have no doubts that you will surpass me one day. So I know you can handle him."

"...You bet. They're not going to win after all this." He said at last. "Come on, Happy!"

"Aye sir!" Happy held the back of his shirt before flying off.

* * *

"This guy's a monster!" Alzack growled. Gajeel seemed to be able to block his bullets without even blinking. He was even giving Capricorn a run for his money as he continued to wear the spirit down.

"I'm impressed you're actually standing." He commented casually. "But how about this? Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon logs!"

The group fighting him was struck with a number of spears that sent them crashing to the ground. Gajeel was about to attack again when someone stepped in front of him and grabbed his fist before giving him a kick that had him reeling.

Gajeel grinned when he saw who it was as the Fairy tail members smiled "You made it in time, Salamander."

* * *

"...I've never seen Natsu like this." Lucy commented. He was battling more fiercely than ever.

"Yeah...he's gotta be going out more than ever. This is the first time he's been up against another dragon slayer." Happy said.

Cana turned to him. "Whoa, hold up, what do you mean? That guy's another one?"

"Yeah, Natsu says that guy's scent told him he has similar magic."

"That clears up a few things. And he looks just as strong as Natsu."

Natsu dodged a blow from Gajeel's blade and heard his enemy say "Time to end this, Salamander."

"Yeah? Ain't that too bad, I'm just gettin' started!"

Gajeel's skin turned a bluish silver color and he aimed a punch at Natsu, who dodged it but the spectators could feel the wind the attack caused from their place.

"He just powered up again! This is nuts..." Macao grunted.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!"

This struck Gajeel but Natsu had to bite a yelp as he stepped back. Capricorn noticed this and said "The attack actually hurt him too. He's powered up his defenses as well..."

The battle continued with Gajeel dodging most of Natsu's attacks, till he was hit by a Brilliant Flame, followed by a fire powered punch.

"Give it a rest, Salamander. You may be able to burn things to ash but it won't matter because you won't affect my iron." Gajeel said.

"Oh, yeah?"

A crack slowly appeared on Gajeel's face then, shocking everyone to silence.

"My flames are dragon flames, you know? They'll burn anything." Natsu said. "Time to get serious."

"...Yeah, there ain't enough room for two dragons in the sky."

* * *

The two engaged in close combat again as they jumped in mid-air. For a few minutes, they were all evened out.

When the two separated, the spectators noted that both dragon slayers must be getting worn down. They'd even given up using magic and went all physical. It looked like the rematch would come to an end soon.

"Well, this just keeps getting better..." Bisca grumbled sarcastically.

Natsu stopped "Man, I didn't think it would come in handy now." He took a piece of a fiery red rock from his pocket and ate it, grinning as he felt power come back to him. "Perfect!"

"Was that just..." Happy began.

"A piece of the fire crystal from back then? Glad he listened to us." Lucy smiled a bit. So it came in handy after all.

Natsu's hands lit up with flames "Gotta thank them for this later." He really thought Lucy was worrying too much when she said Natsu might need the item for later. (The scientists didn't want anything to have to do with that item so they let them take it. The rest of Natsu's team decided that he would be the one to make the most use of it). Hope had advised him to at least keep a piece with him just in case. Man, was he glad he followed Hope and Lucy's advice now!

And the battle resumed once more. Gajeel grinned "So, you had something like that up your sleeve? Guess you're not as stupid as I heard."

"Say what now!?" Natsu snarled as the two separated.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Iron Dragon's Roar!"

The combined spells caused quite the shock wave in the surroundings but they seemed even out. Natsu growled and concentrated his power. He found that it came surprisingly easy. His fury at Gajeel seemed to power him up, making him recall what he knew about the flames of emotion.

The iron dragon slayer had wrecked their guild, hurt his friends and to top it off, he was enjoying it all with that ridiculous expression. Well, Natsu wouldn't let him get away with it. He blocked Gajeel's Hard Fist barehanded, somehow causing cracks with his enemy's scales and shocking him.

They had gotten a fair distance away from the spectators now and were nearing Phantom's HQ again when Natsu attacked again.

"Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist!"

The move ended the battle, defeating Gajeel and wrecking the Giant Mage in the process.

"Whew..."

"Damn." Natsu blinked and looked up to be met with a grinning Macao. "You just keep getting stronger, don't you? That was crazy."

Natsu grinned back "You know it!"

"...You went overboard as always but you were pretty cool." Lucy beamed when Natsu gave her a thumbs up in response.

* * *

Mean while...

Erza was the only one standing against Jose, who had defeated the rest. But she was having some trouble too. The man was strong, she'd give him that.

He jumped back to dodge her slash and smirked "I planned to get rid of Makarov's power and make him suffer but I didn't think that White Paladin would ruin that plan so easily. I think I'll make sure to get him as we go for Lucy. He seems to be an interesting boy, there's obviously more to him than meets the eye."

Erza growled, like she'd like that happen!

"But it matters not. It won't change much in my plan." Erza made a disgusted face and wasted no time in verbalizing those feelings when her enemy continued. "My guild was always the one on top but Fairy tail suddenly rose in the ranks pretty quickly. People even call you lot our rivals. You were once such a weak guild."

Erza attacked again "So, this war was to soothe your petty jealousy?"

He captured her with a spell called Shade Entangle "Oh, now who said anything like that? I needed to prove which was the superior guild. You were getting on my nerves for a long time but then Jude Heartfilia came and hired to get his daughter back. How great do you have to be to become satisfied? Fairy tail now can use the Heartfilia's money to become even stronger and I won't allow that!"

"You must be joking! Lucy ran away from home. She lives in a rented apartment, one which she works very hard to get the money for. She doesn't want a single coin of her family's money. We worked, laughed and cried together! She's our comrade! What do you know about her tears?"

"Not much but I'll know soon enough. I plan to return her after I make sure to bleed her family dry." Jose answered calmly.

A blast of light struck Erza's binds and disintegrated them. As her armor reformed, the mage turned to the source to find "Master..."

"Good, you're all awake." He said as the following exclamations. "You need to leave this place."

"Wait, what?..." Gray began.

"Gray, don't." Erza interjected. "We'd just get in his way."

* * *

"It's been over six years since we last met now, isn't that right?" Jose said, preparing to fight. "I'm so glad I get to prove my superiority over you, Makarov."

"My children, thank you all for the hard work. You should all be very proud to be in Fairy tail." Makarov muttered, their opposing magic began to clash with the sky rumbling at the sheer force that caused. "You have earned your place with the Wizard Saints but if you had used for power for good, the world would have benefited from you."

"Are you trying to preach me?"

"It's my guild custom system, I'll give you three counts to kneel." Makarov changed to Titan form. It was finally time to end the war and he'd more than happy to do it for his children.

"One."

Jose laughed, noticing the light in his enemy's hands "You must be joking. You're the one who should bow to me! Fairy tail should vanish off the face of face of the earth."

"...Three."

A great golden circle appeared in the sky as Makarov was surrounded by an aura of light. Bright light then shot out, Jose stepped back, looking very afraid.

"What is that?" asked Lucy, they could see the light all the way from their side.

"...Fairy Law." She looked at Erza. "It's a righteous light that slays the darkness, only the ones the caster's heart see as the enemies are affected."

"...Amazing."

* * *

Jose fell. Makarov didn't even turn as his fist extended to punch Aria who had appeared behind him. "It's about time you cut your losses. Get your master and leave before I change my mind."

* * *

Natsu was placed inside the guild, he was entirely too tired to move. He could see the effect of Fairy law through the window. "...Damn, leave it to Gramps to blow us away."

"Yeah."

He blinked and turned to Hope, who was watching the sight with a smile. The templar looked at him. "You did great back there."

Natsu grinned "Back at ya. You were watching?"

"The whole thing."

"Those shields you put up held up pretty well, you know."

"You noticed that?"

He hadn't till his fight with Gajeel but the golden glow around the guild and a bit of their surroundings tipped him off and the magic felt like Hope's.

"They were supposed to last longer than that. It was the first time I tried it."

"Ah, don't sweat the details. It all worked out and whatever you did to get those creepy things was great. It was all about team work, that's what got us this far."

Hope smiled "Yeah." Natsu held up his fist and Hope did the same before bumping them together.

* * *

_And we're done!_

_Next up is the arc's epilogue. I'm not so good with fight scenes so whoever feels like it, can you give me advice on how to improve them? I've got some fights planned out but the ones in this arc...not so much. _


	11. Chapter 11

_Hiya!_

_This is the epilogue of the Phantom Fiasco with a few changes and whatnot. More on Memoria templars here, I intend to talk about them when I think its necessary. Oh and for the record, Memoria magic can be considered the basis for Arc of Time for a reason I'm going to explain later. _

_Anyway, enough of that now, enjoy!_

* * *

"This is crazy..." Lucy muttered. Hope was searching through some papers Makarov had him bring while blocking a stray ice spell from Gray with his free hand and reducing it to magic particles via the newly learned memoria spell called Zero Ray, which reduces spells to magical energy for the templar to absorb. He had put up his hand and cast it even when he barely blinked in their direction.

"Ara, it looks like Hope has things under control." Mira smiled.

Hope blinked "Got it!"

Makarov took the paper with a thanks before turning to yell at Natsu and Gray "Will you two knock it off already?!"

That, along with Erza looking in their direction, made the fire and ice mages hurry and get back to work.

Happy looked back at the part of the guild they finished and smiled "You're getting better, you know. That's half the guild done already."

"Yeah, I needed to get more magic power back before trying anything else." Hope admitted. He didn't know much templars around here so he ended up picking all his spells (except Saint Air) from books. Rebuilding the guild with his magic was easy, all he had to do was keep a clear picture of the structure in mind and use the lacrima charged with magic Makarov had gotten to help. It had worked out well enough and would have gone even better if it for the fact that Makarov wanted to take the chance to renew the guild's design. So Hope, along with everyone else, was following the blue prints for this idea.

"I know it's not healing magic but that spell is pretty useful" Lucy said, she was talking with Mirajane about the various types of magic their guild mates possessed and the waitress' remark about Hope being the closest thing to a healer they have reminded her of what she already learned.

"Hope's version goes way past the standard spell for a different reason." Mira admitted.

"If they use it on themselves, they'd never get old and..."

"Slow down, Lucy. It's not that simple." Mira interjected. "See, what you said is true but they have limits. It's up to the guardian deity of Aetheria. She watches over all the templars and then decides who had exceeded the limit. I mean they can't bring back the dead or anything but they're allowed to save lives. I'm not sure what that deity is like but she's very powerful and that she feels responsible since she was the one to give the templars this power. The ones who defy her are severely punished. She guards the flow of time. Hope told me that with the exception of the ones she seeks to contact, the only one allowed a direct connection with her is the Lyrian Altair."

The blonde blinked at the familiar title. She was fairly sure that it meant Savior Saint in the ancient language of the templars. But it fit with all he did for them. "I heard about him. He's the guy who founded Aetheria, right? For someone reason I never found a clear picture of him." She glanced at Hope. "I get it now. Memoria magic sounds amazing but it's also one where you have to remember never to lose yourself in power. You'd have to tread carefully..."

"That's the idea." Mira nodded. "That's why Templars are generally known to be disciplined."

Loke walked over to Hope and Happy in time to hear the cat say "So Soleanna is actually the shrine built for the time guardian? I thought it was Aetheria's capital."

"Yup, it is awfully big though..."

"Wait a second, were you there before? I heard only high class nobles or those who have business there were ever allowed in." Loke said, curious. Those who have business pretty much meant people the guardian wanted to talk to.

"Well...if that's true, it could be some place else. For some reason, whenever I think of that place, I just get this image of a place as grand as a palace." Hope admitted.

"Oh, yeah, Hope you haven't been in Aetheria for ages, right?"

"Yeah, it's been over 7 years now, at least..."

"Since you're the expert, Hope, I thought I'd ask." Loke took out a gold ring with a silvery blue stone "This was part of a reward from my last job, but the client was from Aetheria so can I use it?"

"Sure, but it's more of a one time thing. See, the stone's shining because the energy for the spell is trapped in there. He told you to say a keyword before you use it, right?" Hope received a nod. "Well, that's it. The keyword actually activates the spell and you can then direct it however you want. People who buy those have to be clear about what they plan to use them for."

Loke seemed impressed "Well, given you rare your magic is this is certainly useful."

"Yeah, but what happens if someone lies or tries to misuse the ring?" Happy asked

"Easy, they can't. If anything like that, the ring's going to crumble. It's a fail safe to make sure the ring's power won't be corrupted." Hope answered.

Happy already guessed that the other motive would be to avoid punishment from the guardian so he didn't bring it up. "Huh, that's smart. Templars are pretty crafty too."

Gray stopped and frowned. "Maybe I'm paranoid but it really feels like I'm being watched..."

If he had focused on the wall a little longer, he would've noticed Juvia peeking from there.

* * *

"What do you mean Lucy went home?" Gray gaped.

"Erza says she went to see her and found the door open for some reason. She found a bunch of letters to her mother but the place was empty." Natsu answered. "I don't get it. Why'd she go home now?!"

"Slow down, Natsu. Something's not right." Hope pacified his friend. "There's no way Lucy's going back home after all this mess without even telling us. Maybe there's something she needs to do there."

"I sure hope so..." Happy mumbled.

"...I'm still worried though. We better go and check on her, just to make sure nothing happens." Hope continued.

No one was willing to argue, as they all felt the same. Knowing Erza was heading to the station now, the male members of Team Natsu all went in the same direction too.

* * *

"Lucy..." The girl frowned as she was met with Jude Heartfilia's cold eyes when she made her way into his office. "I see you finally stopped this foolishness and came back. It was about time."

Lucy said nothing and walked in. The servants had welcomed her heartily into her home and helped her dress up. Now her hair was neatly styled into a bun and she wore a pretty red dress with some accessories. She looked every bit the noble lady of the family she was born into.

Jude started talking about his plans from then on, including the arranged marriage for her to someone from a wealthy family. He really hadn't changed a bit, Lucy thought.

It was then that she decided to put her foot down.

"That's not why I'm here, Father." She cut him off firmly. "I'm here to cut my ties with you."

"What are you saying? Don't be ridiculous..."

"Ridiculous? That's what it would be if I came back now. This isn't my home anymore." Lucy said bitterly. "It hasn't been for years. I know what the outside world is like now and I love it. I just came to make things clear. I'm not Lucky Lucy of Heartfilia anymore! I'm a mage of Fairy tail now! I'm just Lucy, Lucy of Fairy tail! That guild welcomed me with open arms and I won't forgive you for hurting the people I care about! If you ever try that stunt again, I will fight you with everything I have until I drive my point in." She tore her dress, startling him. "Goodbye, Father."

* * *

Lucy sighed as she left the house. That was...oddly relieving.

"There she is!"

She blinked at Happy's voice and was stunned to see her teammates run over to her.

"Lucy!"

"Guys! What are you doing here?!"

"What do you mean? We're here to find you," Natsu said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Clearly Erza couldn't agree more "Really, Lucy what did you think was going to happen when you up and vanished like that? We were worried about you."

"Sorry, you didn't have to be! I just needed to clear things up with my dad and visit mom's grave. I'm sorry you came all the way here..."

Hope smiled "Don't say that, you would've done the same if it was any of us. What are friends for, right?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Gray shrugged. "...Gotta say, you sure had some house, whoa..."

"Yeah, it has that effect on people." Lucy said indifferently. She really didn't hold an ounce of affection for this place. Things had been awful since her mother died.

Noticing this, Gray decided to hold off any more talk about this place "All right, ready to go back then?"

"I sure am!"

* * *

They soon fell in step with each other and began chatting about various subjects. Lucy watched this all with a bright expression till she noticed Hope looking at her and smiling. "What?"

"Oh, just thinking, you look more like your old self now...you seemed so down before but now it's like you did something big."

"Nothing gets past you, I see." Lucy answered. "Yeah, I just...talking with Father at least made me feel like there's this weight off my shoulder. I know it seems normal but I never would have had the guts to do that before this fiasco."

"I think I get what you're saying." Hope said. "Sometimes things just don't seem as scary when you've had time and reason to look at them from a different perspective."

She blinked, surprised "Hey...you know that actually sums it up well. I was really mad so it came out pretty quickly."

"Are you mad now?"

"Nope, just dead tired. Then again, dealing with Natsu and Happy does that to a person."

Hope laughed "Yeah, but I can't imagine them any other way."

"...Unfortunately, I can't either." Lucy couldn't help the smile on her face as she said it. Being around them all cheered her up. Hope always had a warm, somehow calming presence that made him so easy to talk to.

"...You know, it probably isn't my business but I think I should tell you this." The blond motioned him to go on with a nod. "I think maybe, when you feel ready, you should try and fix things up with your dad. Laxus-nii got really upset when Grandpa excommunicated his son, and he's never been around since."

Lucy blinked "Laxus' dad was excommunicated? How come?"

"I don't know. I've never even met him before and it sounds like things are really bad between them. I just overheard them arguing about it before." Hope admitted. "That's just giving me the feeling that if you don't try to fix things up, you might regret it."

"I hear you." Lucy could certainly see where he was going with this. He wanted her to at least get the chance his brother never had.

"Sorry, if it seems like I'm meddling..." He stopped when Lucy flicked his forehead with a finger.

"No over apologizing." She smiled. Lucy really didn't think he was interfering, he was just being a good friend. "And thanks, maybe I'll try that someday. But..." She trailed off as Happy called them over. "...I've got the time I need to prepare for it."

* * *

Cheers erupted in the currently renovated Fairy tail guild once its members were informed that they could take up jobs again.

Lucy didn't see what the excitement was about but she was still pleased for her guild mates for a completely different reason.

Just yesterday she had explained to them that Loke was actually the leader of the zodiacs, Leo. He had been staying behind in their world for over three years now since his former owner, Karen was killed. Lucy had learned the truth from Crux and had confronted him about it. Loke had already given up, believing he deserved to die for what happened to Karen. The blond had managed to talk him out of it and convince the Celestial Spirit King to let him go back to the Celestial World to recover.

"So what does he actually look like? You know, his spirit form?" Natsu asked.

"Well...I didn't get to see it actually..."

"Well, he's probably a..."

"It'd be so cool if he was a dragon!" Natsu cut Gray off, lost in excitement. "I can see it now..."

"See what, you idiot? He won't be a dragon, right?" Gray asked Lucy.

"How do you know, Ice princess?!" Natsu asked, annoyed.

"Natsu, calm down. Gray's saying he'll probably be something like a lion or at least something with a connection to lions. The spirits seem to pretty much resembles their names in appearance." Hope pointed out. "Right?"

"Exactly." Lucy said with a nod.

"Oh..."

Mira watched this with amusement. "Well, it was still a great thing you did for him, Lucy. I'm sure Loke will be grateful, you gained a strong ally."

"I know!" She smiled, patting her key holder.

"Say, Natsu." Happy flew over with a job request "How's this for a job?"

The dragon slayer read it "Hm...maybe but I wanna check the board first."

"All right," the cat landed. "Hope, you want in?"

"Even if he did, he can't." Gray answered. "Master said not to let him take any jobs until he fully recovers." Hope nodded to this, trying not to show his weariness. He was barely starting to feel that, they had just settled down after all the renovating.

"Come to think of it, Hope used a lot of magic power to help get the guild back in shape." Mira said with a concerned look.

Lucy touched his forehead and frowned "Master has the right idea. No wonder you're tired, you're running really low."

"Well, in that case, we'll take him home." Happy said.

Hope blinked "You don't have to..."

"It's fine, we want to." Natsu interjected as Lucy stood, wanting to do the same.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" They started at Erza's furious voice and found her facing Laxus, who was smirking at her.

"I mean it's pathetic. Can't you all manage that one guild on your own?" He returned calmly before glancing at Team Shadow Gear. "You lot are weak. Getting beat up like that..."

"What did you say?!" Jet demanded as Droy glared at him and Levy looked away.

"Hey, that's not true! They fought hard to help everyone out." Lucy defended.

"Says the one who caused the problem." was Laxus' response. "You're as weak as they are. You all must have been pretty useless for Mira to call for me."

The waitress clenched her fists, regretting that idea once more. She had tried to get his help just before Phantom's attack but it ended up badly as Laxus said he only would if Cana stripped for him and Lucy became his girl.

Was someone like this actually in their guild? A number of the observers wondered.

Hope was about to argue when Natsu grabbed his shoulder to make him stop and stepped up. "Where do you even come off, you bastard?! We're the ones who had to fight when you never showed up!"

Laxus snorted "Yeah, I heard about your valiant struggle. It's the reason why Phantom's slayer beat you up and Chibi looks like he's about to faint now. I'm not even sure what the old man is thinking, filling the guild with weaklings."

"Fairy tail ain't weak!" Natsu interrupted.

"Yeah, says the loud mouth weakling." Laxus responded dismissively. "You're all bark and no bite and Chibi's not even fit to be a mage."

"Say what?!" Natsu could ignore the attack on him just fine, he had heard worse. But Laxus was trash talking Hope after all the work he put in over the years and that was not something he could let slide. He was happy to see that a lot of his guild mates agreed, judging by the venomous glares they were giving Laxus.

"So, you ever got around to telling them that secret, Chibi?" Laxus didn't receive a response. "That's what I thought, can't say I blame you. Either way, that getting out might end up in you getting abandoned or dying...Oh wait, it almost did twice now, isn't that right?"

Many of the Fairy tail members didn't get what that meant but from the way Hope flinched and looked down, they could see that Laxus' words had hit where it hurt. Natsu's reaction was another proof, he was planning to burn Laxus had Hope not stopped him.

Erza might not have not understood what Laxus meant but it did not mean she would let him get away with hurting Hope like this. "Everyone has something to keep for themselves Laxus but whatever it is, I think I speak for everyone when I say we would never abandon Hope. And if it comes to the first one, we'll do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening."

Their guild mates wasted no time in voicing their agreement to this one.

"Yeah!" Gray said immediately.

"You bet!"

"Of course!"

"Without a doubt."

Hope watched them with wide eyes before a smile settled on his face. He really couldn't bring himself to explain that subject but he was so relieved and grateful to be assured that his guild mates had his back no matter what. "Thank you..."

"What are friends for, right?" Lucy winked.

"Yup!" Happy jumped to his arms and grinned.

"Besides, at the rate you're going, you'd be getting closer to that second one than Hope ever would." Gray said coolly.

"Please, by the time I'm Master, I'll remove all weaklings from the guild." Laxus dismissed.

* * *

"I can't believe that guy!" Cana growled.

"Please tell me he's not going to be Master," Lucy said.

"I can't say for sure. He's Master's grandson, remember? Why do you think he put off retirement for so long? Laxus needs to become compassionate before becoming Master."

Natsu snorted "Somehow I don't see that happening..."

"For once we agree." Gray said.

"What I really want to know is why he was saying those things before..." Macao said, looking at Hope.

The White Paladin avoided his eye and said "...That's...not something I'm comfortable admitting..."

"So, what he said was true?" Happy frowned. Hope's silence in itself was an answer, making them all give the boy shocked and concerned looks. What in the world could have happened?

"...You do realize we all stand by what Erza said before, right?" Cana pointed out.

"Yeah, there's no way we're letting any of that happen to you. You already proved you'd do the same for us." Natsu said. It went unsaid that the dragon slayer knew what this was about. But Natsu had already told them that he had made a promise not to tell so they didn't want to force him to break it.

"I know and thanks...it's just that...I need sometime before that. I've been keeping it for so long and I'm not ready."

"We can understand that." Erza said, placing a hand on his shoulder. She knew the past was something Hope tended to avoid and she could definitely sympathize with that. "As long as you know you can trust us with that secret."

"...I couldn't find people more trustworthy. You're my family."

* * *

_Well that concludes the Phantom Arc. Next up is the Fighting Festival Arc._

_Unfortunately, what Laxus said was true, all of it. Hope's secret could have ended up in the aforementioned results. For the record, he's only keeping quiet out of fear. It's been nearly 8 years now and he hasn't really considered how hard it is to talk about it. It actually connects to his past directly. I'm going to start getting bit by bit about that out. About half or so would be known by the Oracion Seis arc but Hope's past actually comes into light by the GMG arc and the Aetheria arc (which is going to be after Tartarus). There's an important part Hope himself forgot too. But more on that later. _

_I hope you liked the chapter, it actually came surprisingly easy. I also hope you understand what I'm saying now when you read the truth later._

_Please Read and Review!_

_Laters._


	12. Chapter 12

_Hi everyone!_

_This might be a short chapter but I'll get to work on the next one quick. I just want to take a moment to thank anybody who read my story. It might not be much now but I promise it'll get better but while I'm at it I'd like to say, you guys rock!_

_Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

Team Natsu had just come back from their visit to the beach, having been offered tickets by Loke to a new resort. Things had really gone south when Erza's friends kidnapped her and the rest went after the group to the tower of heaven with Juvia's help and ended up uncovering a plot to resurrect Zeref by Jellal Fernandes, another of Erza's friends who had betrayed them.

Upon learning of this, the council hit the tower of heaven with the magical weapon Etherion to destroy it while Natsu and Erza were battling Jellal. But it was revealed that they played into Jellal's hand when it was revealed that the tower was a giant lacrima which absorbed Etherion's power.

Natsu took advantage of that by eating some of the lacrima to recharge his magic, which caused him to enter Dragon Force and defeat Jellal. Thanks to that, Erza and her friends were truly free at last.

After all that, the team was eager to get back to the guild and see how things were. They were in for quite a surprise.

"This is incredible!"

"What a lovely surprise."

"No kidding, now this is some plan Master cooked up..."

"When Gramps wants something done, he pulls out all the stops..."

Hope turned to the door when he heard Gray's voice to find his teammates entering. He smiled "Welcome back, guys!"

"Hey, Hope."

"So, how's the new guild looking?" The brunet asked.

"In one word, Awesome!" Happy summarized with the rest voicing their agreement to this.

"I don't know...it doesn't feel like Fairy tail." Natsu admitted.

"You'll get used to it, besides I think you guys are going to love the changes..."

* * *

"I can't believe anyone can go into the second floor now..." Natsu blinked. "Wait! Does this mean we can pick any request there?"

"No way." He deflated at Hope's answer. "You'd have to check it over with Grandpa or Mira-san, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." There was no way those two would let them take a job like that if they didn't think they were ready.

"You just got lucky once, Natsu. Don't push it," Makarov walked over. "Besides, we got some new recruits too..." A figure stepped up from behind the pillar to his right. "Juvia Lockser."

The woman smiled. Her transition from her time in Phantom was clear to all. Her blue hair was cut just above her shoulders, some of it covered by a white and blue hat. She had a choker on with Fairy tail's symbol on it. Her dress, gloves and boots matched the hat perfectly.

"Hi Juvia," said Lucy.

Erza smiled "I never got to thank you for your help at the tower. You really came through for us."

"Yeah, good to see ya." Happy added.

Juvia's face flushed "G-good to see you too and I'm glad I could help."

"Welcome to Fairy tail." Gray said.

Juvia beamed "Thank you!"

"Juvia-san said she couldn't wait to join the guild." Hope put in with a smile of his own. She had brought up something else, or rather someone else but he didn't want to embarrass her. "She's starting over now as you can see."

"Yeah, good on you. So you doin' okay here?" Natsu queried.

"Oh, yes. It's a very nice place. Hope-san has kindly helped us out and shown us around Magnolia too."

"No surprise there, he's..." Natsu blinked. "Hold up, who's us?"

"Since I settled here, I invited Gajeel-kun to join." Juvia admitted, pointing out the iron dragon slayer sitting not too far away.

"Whoa, hold up, Gramps." Gray reacted first. "You actually let _him _join?"

"Even after everything that's happened?" Lucy added, sharing his indignation.

"He was being a good guild mate obeying his master's orders." Makarov responded to their questions calmly. "Don't forget, Jose instigated the war. Besides, he's a good guy...I think."

Erza frowned, noticing Natsu and Gajeel beginning to argue but said "He still needs to be watched."

"Yeah, right there with you."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Natsu protested. "There's no way I'm working with this guy."

"Heh, works for me. I'm not up to working with any of you either," Gajeel responded casually.

"What did you say?!"

"Hope, did he bug you or anything?" Gray asked the templar.

He shook his head. "I think he's just trying to go along with things..."

"You sure?" Happy frowned, knowing fully well that Hope hardly ever badmouths people. He and his teammates agreed that the brunet could be too nice for his own good.

"Maybe we should just watch now, guys. If Grandpa thinks he's worth giving a second chance, then I'll give him one too."

Makarov gave his grandson a grateful smile for the degree of trust in that statement. He blinked when the lights suddenly went out before concentrating on the stage. Then came Mirajane, wearing a gold dress and she started singing. The whole guild went quiet, which was actually quite a shock. But everyone was enjoying her lovely voice immensely.

At least until Gajeel stepped on Natsu's foot accidentally, which seemed to be the sign for chaos as soon the whole guild started to fight.

"This is ridiculous..." Lucy facepalmed.

"And fast..." Happy tilted his head.

Makarov sighed in exasperation "Hope?"

"Don't worry, I got it. Freeze."

A silver circle flashed under the boy before a bigger one appeared around them, then all the fighters stiffened in place, as if they were made of statues. Once again thankful that Hope had learned more memoria magic lately, Makarov knew they could hear him so he decided to make his arm bigger with Titan magic before pointing out something "Listen up, we've got a reporter from Sorcerer Magazine coming tomorrow so no more of this! Whoever starts causing trouble will be punished, understand?"

A general round of consents followed as no one wished to be on the receiving end of their master's punishment.

* * *

"Aaand of course, Hope's a no-show." Gray said the next day.

Lucy blinked "How did you know he wasn't coming?"

"Easy, that's what he did the other two times. Ever notice how the articles there don't have any pictures about the White Paladin?"

"Oh, yeah..."

Mira smiled a bit "Well, it can't be helped. He's just not comfortable with all the attention. He says he's been getting enough with the stories spreading about him. The clients seem to pierce it together sometimes, I think that's where the stories come from."

Macao snorted "Yeah, they end up pretty shocked too. Most people think the White Paladin is someone in their twenties or something, not a kid who's barely made it to his teen years."

"If the reporter is the guy from last time, then I can't blame him one bit..." Cana mumbled.

"That bad?" Lucy asked.

"You'll see."

* * *

It took her less than half an hour with Jason, the reporter, to realize that yes, it was that bad. It was like whatever she did, he'd ignore her. Not to mention that the guy seemed to be a bit of an idiot, he's announce everything crazy her guild mates did as cool and she had a sinking suspicion that all the interview was wreck their guild's reputation even more. He was really loud and annoying.

Many agreed that the worst part of the day was when Gajeel took up a white suit with a matching hat and shoes with sunglasses and with a guitar in hand, played a song. The problem with that is that even listening to nails on a chalkboard might have been more merciful than listening to that. It was atrocious. Many people wondered how anyone could be that bad. He not only stopped Lucy from performing to get the reporter's attention but he'd ambushed Mirajane and tied her backstage. Lucy wished she followed Hope's lead and stayed away from the guild. It really hadn't been her day. She was glad when the next day sailed in.

All her attempts to get some attention were ruined and to top it off, she still didn't get the rent! She couldn't forget about that if she tried. Her landlady was going to be frightening if she was late...

"You think she's okay?"

"I don't know...that sounded bad."

"You guys worry too much."

"Then you know what's wrong?"

"Yup, think about it for a second."

"Oi, Lucy?" She frowned as Natsu poked her. She opened one brown eye to find him, Hope, Erza, Cana and Happy watching.

"You okay? You sound worse than a sobering Cana..." Happy said, referring to the moan she had uttered moments ago.

"Hey! I do not sound that bad...do I?" Cana didn't receive a response and sighed, looking at the mug she was holding. _(AN: She was sticking to a mug because of Erza, mind you, just sayin'.)_

"If you were feeling sick, you should've stayed home." Erza said, looking concerned.

"No, that's not it...I'm worried about the rent."

Natsu blinked "Whaddya know, Ice brain was right."

Erza looked annoyed, Gray had told them that before he got dragged off by Juvia somewhere but she didn't think it was true. "Then you'd certainly do better looking for a job than moping here. I thought you knew better."

Lucy freaked out at the stern tone and the scary aura that came with it "S-sorry!" She squeaked, hiding behind Hope.

Hope looked between the blonde and red head, deciding it was time to attempt to smooth the situation. "It's okay, we can try looking for a job now."

* * *

"This is the job you ended up with? Seriously?" Gray shook his head as Team Natsu continued their trek.

"It's not so bad!" Lucy said defensively. "Or would you rather go back to the place Natsu picked the first time?"

"No thanks..."

The job was a search for a missing item by a scholar in the city of Forza named Roy. They were heading to meet the man and get more information before setting out.

"Ice boy's just good for a nag." Natsu said.

"Wanna run that past me again, flame brain?!"

"Sure, you probably got something stuck in your ear. I can beat it out of you!"

Someone cleared his throat, and they froze up, instantly knowing who it was. Just as they feared, Erza was looking back at them with an arched eye "Do I hear fighting?"

"N-no, ma'am!" They replied in perfect sync.

"Good."

"I don't care how many people you get. You just can't stop those two from fighting." Happy deadpanned.

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucy shook her head. "Hey, Hope, which way do we go now?"

The brunet was looking over the map of the area Erza had brought with her (AN: _Well. it's about time I found a use for all the stuff she likes to drag, right? I'm not even sure what it is.) _"Hm...we're supposed to go north until we reach a river and then we head on straight to the city."

"All right then!"

* * *

"I still don't get how you and Erza have the patience to stop this every time. It gets to be annoying." Lucy said to Hope.

Happy flew to them "Well, you have to admit Erza's way doesn't exactly need patience."

"Very true." She conceded

"Well, it just ends up like that." Hope responded.

"You really have the patience of a saint. The whole routine can be pretty annoying." Happy remarked.

"Speaking of annoying stuff, Hope, what did Metal head want from you?" Natsu asked with a frown.

"Metal head?" Erza raised an eye but then realized he meant Gajeel.

Hope frowned as he recalled the meeting...

* * *

**"So...what did you want to talk about?" Hope asked.**

**"I've been wondering about you ever since that battle..." Gajeel began. "That weird aura around you now makes sense. You're the Prime Model, aren't you?"**

**Hope froze at the mention of the title he hadn't heard in years. He frowned, it brought back some very bad memories. "...How do you know about that?"**

**"Let's just say I've got some connections. So, how'd it end up being you?"**

**"You do realize I'm not going to answer that, right?"**

**"You sure you want to go against me? Anybody who did can tell you how persuasive I am." Gajeel said, getting closer and letting some of his power show.**

**Hope let out some of his power in response, looking surprisingly calm. "And anybody who knows me can tell you that I don't scare easy. If you still want to know, you'll have to try harder."  
**

**Gajeel grinned, watching Hope walk past him. He really just wanted to test the kid's reaction and he was actually impressed. Hope was one of the few who didn't cower before him. "So you got some guts. Good to know."**

* * *

Gray blinked "Oh, yeah, he did show up when you got to the guild. What was that about? I could barely hear what he said but it sounded like he called you a prime model or something."

"It's what they called me." Hope informed, the ice mage's mouth formed an 'oh' of comprehension as he understood.

"Hey, wait a..." Natsu trailed off. "How does he know about that?"

"That's what I asked but he just said he has his ways." Hope answered.

"Why would he say something like that?" Lucy wanted to know.

Happy spoke up before Hope, seeming to understand Natsu's question then "Wait a sec, you mean he knows about Endymion?"

"It would seem so." Erza answered.

"Somehow I don't see anybody in the guild coming up about it, especially after what I heard..." Lucy said, addressing the phoenix.

'I'm wondering about that myself.' Endymion admitted. 'Maybe Jose had some dealings with dark guilds...that's the only reason I can think of for him knowing this.'

Having met the man herself, Lucy wouldn't be surprised if the guess was right. "Yeah, I can imagine that..."

* * *

They ended up reaching Forza city by nightfall and so decided to meet Roy in the morning. The group ended up going to the nearest inn and renting rooms for the night before gathering at the room the guys were sharing to talk.

"So Hope, how did that dark guild catch you?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not really sure." He admitted. "I lost some of my memories after that time. But sorry...there are somethings I'd rather not talk about."

"Oh, that's okay." She assured. It had to be an awful time for both of them, something about Hope's tone told her that it was a painful time. "So I heard it's custom that templars are taught memoria magic when they're young. Is it true?"

"It is. That must have happened to me because Natsu says I knew some magic when we met but...well, I didn't actually remember I was a templar until I joined the guild." He continued.

"I didn't know he forgot it all till a while after that." Natsu added sheepishly, remembering his surprise when Hope admitted to having been using light magic (which he discovered some time after the experiment).

Noticing that the cat was looking for something in Natsu and Hope's bags prompted Endymion to ask what he was doing.

"I can't find the trout I picked up before we left..."

"You mean you can actually find anything in your place?" Gray wanted to know.

"It's an organized mess! I'll never find anything if anybody does what they want with it!"

"Whatever floats your boat."

Erza remembered the day Lisanna and Hope attempted to clean it up since they were looking for a request Natsu had dropped there and partly because the first thought they could help with that. Hope hadn't been sure it would work after seeing it but he didn't want to leave Lisanna alone in that so he pitched in.

It hadn't worked well, partly because Natsu had forgotten about that plan when Happy said he wanted to go fishing and partly because the two, rightfully in Erza's opinion, gave up after they'd gotten tired. When they realized what he'd done, Erza and Mira had gladly teamed up to teach him a lesson. Suffice to say, it was a very bad day for the dragon slayer.

"Well, we've got a long day ahead so let's go to sleep." She said.

* * *

_Well, how about that? What do you make of the reveal on Hope's past? We're going to hear more from Endymion from now on since he's learning to get along with everyone and he learned telepathy recently. The next chapter should be soon.  
_


	13. Chapter 13

_Hey everyone!_

_Glad I got this one out. I'm trying to find a regular time to update but it just didn't work. _

_Amerdism: Thanks, I always aim to impress!_

_I still can't find a suitable ending or name for my novel. It's frustrating...  
_

_Lucy: Aw, no worries, you'll get there._

_Hope: Yup, just keep trying._

_Thanks, guys! We gotta persevere to get what we want, right?_

_Lucy: Absolutely! _

_Now without further ado, Hope, disclaimer please?_

_Hope: Sure, Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail. What she owns is her own plot and OCs. _

_Lucy: You know that's pretty much a given, right?_

_Yeah, but it makes me feel better. Besides, I barely remember to do it anyway..._

* * *

Two moans sounded simultaneously, growing more drawn out till a third voice sighed.

"Guys, the more you groan the more pain you're going to get."

"I can't help it, Happy. It hurts!" Natsu groaned as he and Gray leaned on each other with their backs on the bench outside the inn, both holding their heads.

Erza suppressed a growl, glowering at them both. "Just be glad Hope stopped me or you'd both be in worse shape."

The templar came out of the building to their left, followed by Lucy. Erza turned to them "How did it go?"

"Pretty good, the guy's really not so bad. He just asked us a couple of weird questions and told us more about the item." The latter answered.

(_AN: You're all wondering what's going by this point, right? No worries, I won't keep you hanging on longer.)_

See, Team Natsu had gone to meet Roy after breakfast. What made Erza nearly smack Natsu and Gray silly was their reaction to their client's appearance.

Roy had dirty blond hair and light green eyes. Normal enough, right? Well, the thing is his wardrobe was...well, let's just say he could give Bob a run for his money, makeup and all. The main difference was that he wasn't as fat as the Blue Pegasus guild master. (_AN: I never understood why he dresses like that by the way. I don't care if he's gay that's just wrong...)_ His lips were a little bloated, a fact made more noticeable by his magenta lipstick.

Poor Roy didn't even notice the fire and ice mages' badly suppressed laughter as he welcomed the team to his house. It was only after giving details over the request that the following happened.

**"Nice outfit," Gray complimented.**

**Roy smiled "Why thank you. This was a gift from a friend of mine, apparently it's a popular style in his home so he thought it would fit me. I was thinking of researching his home's customs next so it's a bit of a head start."**

**He snorted "Yeah? Lemme know how that goes..."**

**"You know, old man I'm wondering about that friend of yours. You know, if you guys are all that in the head..." Natsu snickered.**

**"Why do you say that?"**

**"You don't get out much, huh?"**

**"Well, compared to you guild mages, I suppose not..."**

**Erza glared at them and Lucy's palm never left her face. Hope and Happy shared a resigned look, knowing that this was bound to end badly. **

And she was right. The meeting was filled with Natsu and Gray's attempts at sarcasm that bordered on mockery. That being the result of them attempting to outdo each other, since with Erza around the two already knew they'd never get a chance to fight outright and they happened to agree about Roy's outfit. Of course, them being civil around one another is quite a task so one thing lead to the other and end up in the near disaster. Erza had dragged them off before things could get worse. Honestly, it was lucky Roy never caught on their attempts.

'You really could have handled that better.' Endymion's voice reached the team's minds as usual with the phoenix practicing his recently acquired telepathy.

"I'll say," Lucy grumbled.

"Hold still, guys," Hope said, casting his magic on them.

"So, he wants us to get back a box he and his friend lost on their trip here?" Happy asked for clarification.

"Yup, what I really don't get is that he made it seem important but they actually lost the box a long time ago." Lucy admitted. Not knowing that it was because Roy's friend always had a hard time keeping track of his things. He thought the box was already taken care of but it Roy prodding the matter to realize his mistake.

"Yeah, that is weird..."

"If it's the same friend who got him that get up then it doesn't surprise me." Natsu said, standing up.

Bonk! "OW!"

_(AN: Well, I don't need to elaborate on this bit, right? Sometimes Natsu just doesn't learn...)_

* * *

Erza looked at the picture of the item they were asked to get back. An elaborate wooden box decorated with flowers on the sides and a blue shaped rhombus made of glass on the top. It had some odd runes on the bottom which according to Roy, weas result of a protection spell his friend tried.

"Say, does the box have anything important or does it matter without it?" Happy asked.

"Does it matter?" Natsu asked.

"Happy's on the right track. Roy did say his friend placed a protection spell of sorts and it held up this whole time. Since they both put up requests to get it back it must be very important." Erza explained.

'...Important enough for our company too?' Endymion asked.

Gray smirked, knowing exactly what that meant. It was just lucky the phoenix's voice was only heard by them. "Yeah." He said quietly. "At three?"

"At three," Erza nodded.

A silver aura surrounded the group then. It was then followed by a number of lightning and rocky spears that shot out towards Team Natsu and struck, raising a smoke screen.

A number of people stepped out from the bushes, wearing mostly grey and blue outfits with some armor on them. One laughed "We got 'em!"

"AND three!" Natsu's voice came from within the screen. The dragon slayer jumped out a second later to gut one with enough force to send him into a tree.

"What the..."

"Ice make: Lance!" The attack caught a couple of attackers by their collars to pin them down which he then kicked with enough force to knock out.

Lucy spotted a gleam in the bush behind her. Thinking fast, she took out a whip and struck that area, smirking a bit at the yelp that followed. Right on. Then a wave of lightning came at her from the opposite side. Before Lucy could react however, a shield of light repelled the blast from her. She looked at Hope and gave him an appreciate thumbs up, to which he responded with a smile and a nod before somersaulting to dodge an enemy attempting to blindside him and take him down with a couple of quick slashes.

"That was fast..." Happy mumbled.

"What're you talking about, Happy? We're barely getting started!" Gray pointed out.

"That just applies for you."

The ice mage blinked and followed the cat's line of sight to find Erza dragging out a number of people with similar clothing from their right and add them to their knocked out attackers who were being tied up to the trees by Natsu.

"When did she even..." Lucy started.

"What did you expect? It's Erza..." Happy said.

"Point taken."

"All right, so who are you and why are you getting in our way?" The scarlet haired mage demanded.

"You're not getting anything from us."

"We're just doing our job! You're the ones getting in our way, damn guild wizards!"

Lucy sighed. Those guys really didn't know who they were dealing with "Hey, guys. Not that I want to cut in on your brave act or anything but you really, really don't want to get on my friend's bad side more than you already did."

"What are you..." The two men stiffened when they saw Erza's expression and the dark aura surrounding her. To them, the beautiful woman now looked like a terrifying monster.

Gray just grinned "We wondered when you'd show up."

"What are you talking about? There's no way you would've known we were around!"

"So why are you after the box?" asked Hope.

The man quickly denied anything about that and added. "We're just bandits, kid. No idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I can see that's true. But there's no way you wouldn't know what we were up to after setting those traps around the area."

"Wait, you know about the traps? Does that mean..."

"Yup, Hope set one off on purpose. We've been avoiding them the whole time." Natsu said.

"Wha...but that was supposed to freeze you even if you destroyed them all! How could you..."

Happy flew up to Hope's shoulder "It's just because we were way ahead of you. You should never underestimate us Fairy tail wizards."

"You little...that box should have been ours! You don't even know it's importance!"

"Which is why we're asking you." Erza said. "Our job is simply to retrieve it, what would bandits like you want to get in our way for? You're even using rings to substitute for your lost magic."

What she meant was that when they commit grave sins, templars have their memoria magic taken away by Freya as punishment. The guardian herself would be the one to decide whether or not to give them the power back. It was harsh but relying on less effective preventive measures only caused problems in the past. The thieves were using rings charged with magic to substitute what they lost and fulfill their plans.

"None of your business, wench!"

* * *

"Well, that turned out really well, huh?"

"I'm sorry! Please punish me!"

What happened after that? Well, the leader was stubborn enough to endure Erza's 'questioning' for a few minutes. It's called 'questioning' here because she nearly beat the man senseless when he evasively answered or remained tight lipped, ignoring any of her teammates trying to stop her. The leader's attempts to insult her of course only made things that much worse. Unfortunately, he hadn't informed his comrades so Team Natsu just left them gagged in the forest and continued on their way.

"Calm down already," Lucy sighed. "I can't blame you for getting mad. The guy was irritating and..."

She stopped because Natsu chose that moment to place a hand over her mouth. The dragon slayer had a wicked looking grin that told her his next words could lead to trouble. "Tell ya what, when we get back to the guild you can pull a favor for us."

"Favor? Like what?"

Endymion's response proved her right. '...Natsu, this had better be not be like the favor from last time.'

"Hey, that's different! How were we supposed to know those fish could transform?"

"They still tasted real good!" Happy chirped.

'So glad someone enjoyed themselves.' Endymion muttered.

Lucy raised an eye and looked at Gray "Do I want to know?"

"You don't. Let's just say things got real messy. Master was so mad he made sure Natsu and Happy stayed away from Hope for nearly two weeks."

"And for good reason." Erza added, looking a little irritated at the memory.

"Yeah, I've never been able to look at fish the same way again..." Gray muttered.

"What are you complaining about? We're the ones who took care of things" Natsu pointed out, gesturing to himself and Hope, who seemed like he was deep in thought about something.

"No, Hope did. You just made an already bad situation worse and Hope's too nice to complain like he should."

"Really? Then where were you, ice princess?"

"Putting out the fires you started, flame brain!"

"Yeah, I really don't want to know..." Lucy decided. "Hope, next time he asks you for a favor, run it over with one of us first."

"That's exactly what we agreed on," Erza informed.

Happy sighed at the argument rising between Natsu and Gray before he went to Hope "You okay? You're really quiet."

"Yeah, I'm just wondering about what they said...about the box's importance."

"You know, I thought that was weird too. Roy made it sound like it was something they just picked up along the way but those bandits clearly think it was a bigger deal than something they get for a job." Lucy noted.

"True, maybe there's more to this than meets the eye." Erza said thoughtfully. "Does anything come to mind, Hope?"

"I'm not sure. It feels like I'm missing something though..." He admitted.

'...Hold on.' Endymion began. 'I think I can see the box.'

"Really?!" Happy said, excited.

"We're not too far but it's a little vague. I can just sense the magic of the protection spell..."

* * *

While it may have seemed that the bandits were already done, they had actually split in two groups. One would try to hamper Team Natsu's progress while the other would put all their efforts into searching for the box. Their client had already given them a way to track the magic emanating from the box and it lead them to a particularly steep mountain just north of Forza.

"So, it's this way?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt."

"I don't get it. How would that guy know how to track it down?"

"Well, he's some kind of genius right? And with magic like that, it has to be a big deal."

A third man snorted "You idiots, don't you get it yet? Our client stole it from the makers. Of course it's a big deal."

"What do you mean, Hunter?"

"The box is just a bonus." Hunter paused and used Zero Ray to reduce the wall before them into nothing, revealing a tunnel just beneath it.

It led to a wide cavern that seemed to have been untouched for a long time. There were clear signs that the place was man made. And from the looks of the sleeping bags and table there, it may have also been lived in.

"Well, whaddya know..."

The box sat on the table, looking just like the picture. One of the bandits picked it up and stared "Huh...well, it's just like he said..."

He started when a whip wrapped itself around the box and pulled it away from him, turning around in time to see Lucy catch the box with a flex of her weapon.

"Hey, nice one, Luce!" Natsu said and she grinned back.

"You...but the others were supposed to stop you!" Hunter scowled at the sight of Team Natsu at the cavern's entrance.

"Oh, they tried to. They were just totally out of their league," Gray said with a smug grin.

"Just like you are." Natsu added without missing a beat.

"Think you're so tough?! Come on!"

And the battle commenced.

Hunter growled when he tried reducing Natsu's flames to nothing but found even more flames coming at him. The dragon slayer grinned at his shock "I'm used to training with someone way faster than you."

He always found it annoying how Hope's magic could completely freeze him up even worse than Gray's ice spells but he learned that if he used enough force, he could overcome the magic. It just depended on the caster's will and magic power and from Natsu's experience, Hunter's magic didn't hold a candle to Hope's.

Lucy grinned as Cancer took down five bandits in a go. She always thought it would be troublesome to battle Memoria templars but they were really managing well. The information she got from Hope came in handy, she thought as she sidestepped to dodge an attacker and hit his back with her whip, leaving him to be defeated by Gray's following ice spell.

"This is almost too easy, Ice make: Knuckle!" Gray said, using his ice knuckles to take down a group that made the mistake of lining up before him to strike. The sooner they would be done, the better. This fight was boring. But then...he saw Erza defeat the bandits wielding swords with incredible ease, they really wouldn't have any problems there.

"We finally got you, brat!" One of the bandits exclaimed when they managed to surround Hope in a circle.

"It seems they've done their work," Endymion mused as they attacked again. "Shall we show them who has who trapped?"

Hope laughed a little "All right, Flash Rondo!" Using his magic to boost his speed, Hope met the three attackers in front of him with his blades, taking them out in three quick strikes that almost made him seem like a blur for a moment. He switched to the pistol form then and fired two bullets that hit each other, creating an x-shaped light blast, naming the move Cross Drive.

Happy watched with a wide smile as his friends wrapped things up and subdued the bandits "Nice work, guys!"

* * *

They reached Forza by sundown and with Roy's help, had the bandits taken by the authorities as they spoke, standing just outside the inn. Natsu stared at the box in Erza's arms before looking at Roy "So, what's the big deal about this thing anyway?"

"Well, I'm actually surprised myself. I didn't think anyone would do all this to get it. But it was a gift and..." Roy stopped when the box started to glow. He then noticed something under Hope's shirt begin to glow and saw him take out the pendant. The blue rhombus detached itself from the box and flew straight into the pendant, combining with it in a flash to form the top piece of the star in the middle. "...My, I certainly didn't see that coming."

"So, it's another shard..." Erza said, not taking her eyes off the pendant.

Hope shook himself "I'm sorry, this..."

"Ah, don't worry about it, child. It seemed that piece belongs to you. This was what my friend used to protect the box, it literally repelled anything we tried." Roy smiled.

"Just like the others ones," Happy recalled, pointing Roy at the two pieces when he asked about it.

"Well, that's interesting..."

"So, what's in there?" Gray asked. Roy opened the box in response to reveal some papers. "That's it?"

Hope stiffened as he felt a strange heat well up inside of him. Before he could even react, he felt the heat creep into every part of his body and his mind went blank. He didn't know that an aura of rather intense magic had surrounded him, making the onlookers watch with varying degrees of concern and confusion.

"Hope?"

"Everything okay?"

When the boy looked up, his expression was curiously blank and his blue eyes cloudy. He gave all the observers an even look.

Hunter, who was being led away by an officer (who happened to be watching the scene with befuddlement), froze when he felt the magic. His eyes widened when they landed on Hope "You're...!"

Hope raised an arm and wordlessly reduced the papers in the box to nothing with Zero Ray, eliciting gasps he paid no mind to.

"Wha..."

"Hope, why'd you do that?" Happy demanded.

Erza frowned, something was really wrong here. Aside from the fact that Hope would never do something like that for no reason, that magic was more powerful than anything she felt before. The only thing that came close was the power during their master's fight with Jose but this...this felt almost otherworldly. "...Who are you?"

Hope met her eyes evenly again for a few seconds before his body went slack and he fell to his knees.

"Hope!"

When he raised his head this time, Hope looked very pale and tired "What...happened?"

"What was that just now?" Gray received a puzzled look in response as Hope stood, swaying a little.

"...Don't bother." Hunter said, attracting attention to him. "Of course he wouldn't know. The kid just did you a favor."

'...Does this mean he's the real thing? I always thought that creep killed him.' He thought to himself afterwards.

"Actually, he's right." Roy said. "I planned to destroy those papers anyway. But what else do you know about this?"

Hunter scoffed "Just tell him to hold on to that pendant." And with that he was taken away by the officer.

* * *

"A time portal?"

"Yes."

When they settled at the inn, Roy took the time to explain. The papers in fact, contained information on a time portal. Like the name states, it can take you any where in time. But it was hard to control and even maintaining it, took the energy of several templars to even keep one going. He admitted that this was something he looked into with two partners but two of them quit after a while.

"You shouldn't have even researched something like that." Lucy frowned. "Don't you know what happened to people who tried using them? People died thinking they can change their past or affect the future because they really messed things up."

"I'm aware of that. But it seemed important at the time. Now we just know better," Roy responded. "My friends got me started on this. They were interested in templars and their magic. One of them told me a story about being a part of an experiment concerning a tablet that happened to hold a soul of a phoenix." He saw Team Natsu's shock at the news but mistook it as surprise. "I know, that's quite a story, right?"

"W-what happened after that?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm, let's see...Ah, right, he did mention something about fusing the soul and resurrecting the phoenix by giving it a new body. A strong templar offered to help and they went underway, it doesn't seem to have worked though. Apparently things went bad and he died...Now there's no need to be upset." Roy stopped. "It's only a story. Sig did rather get carried away as well but I don't see why...

"And that's what they told you, huh?!" Natsu snarled. He blinked when Gray put his arm in front of him and shook his head, asking him not to go any further. Natsu grit his teeth but complied.

"Did I say something?" asked Roy.

"Ah, it's just kind of upsetting, you know that people would use magic for this sort of thing." Happy said quickly. "E-even if it's a story."

"Ah," He nodded in understanding. "But it's like that man said, your friend did us a favor." He glanced at Hope, who was sound asleep in a bed behind them. He had fallen asleep the minute he lay on the bed. It baffled him how the boy didn't remember what happened then. "The poor thing seems exhausted..."

"I'm not surprised. With that kind of magic..." Erza muttered.

"Yeah, what the heck was that anyway?" Natsu tilted his head. "It was weird. Hope sounded like he just blacked out there but he couldn't have, right?"

'...Actually, he did.' Everyone except Roy started at Endymion's voice. 'And it isn't what. It's who. Someone forced their way over Hope's body and blocked me out. I couldn't even do anything with that kind of power so I wouldn't expect Hope to remember what happened.'

"So you think someone possessed him," Roy said when Happy explained this to him. "Strange as it is, I suppose it makes some amount of sense. But who would do that?"

Privately, they were all wondering the same thing. Endymion had an idea about that, but it seemed like a far fetched thought. 'It couldn't be...'

A gleam caught Gray's eye and he followed it to Hope's pendant, currently dangling from its owner's neck. The two top crystals were white and red and the upper piece of the star had turned into a brilliant blue with the new shard. They still weren't any clear in figuring what the pendant could actually do but it had to be important. The shards had enough magic to repair any damage or repel dirt, which is how the box remained as good as new up to now.

"You might want to talk to the partner that got you started on the research. If he was desperate enough to try and make a portal than he could get in serious trouble. Last time I checked, Aetheria's guardian is pretty strict." Erza advised. She was the guardian of time so she would hardly allow humans to tamper with history as they pleased. Roy's friend had likely stopped when his partners quit but there was no telling what else he would do.

Roy started "Oh, you're right! I better get to it." He stopped at the door. "Oh, come and pick the reward up later."

* * *

_And that's that!_

_Lucy:...Should we be worried about this?_

_What? You mean the person who tried to take over Hope?_

_Lucy: Yeah! You made them sound scary with all that power._

_It's a her by the way but no worries, there's a good reason for that. And she wanted to get rid of those notes but she didn't have anyway to do it there and then...It's part of her job, in a way. She doesn't mean any harm. You'll be meeting her much later. I just felt like adding a little mystery but I'm not so heartless as to maim or kill you guys or anything, you know? Sorry about that by the way, Hope._

_Hope: Oh, don't worry. I'm just a little confused...So who was it?_

_Hm, I think you're just going to have to guess. Just like my readers. If anyone gets it right, I'll tell them. Otherwise, it'll probably come clear soon. She's definitely a good person. Fair enough?_

_Hope: I guess so. _

_Please Read and Review! _


	14. Chapter 14

_I hate, hate, hate having writer's block! This chapter should've been easy but it was a total pain to get out. _

_Thanks to everyone who read this story. Let the fighting festival arc begin!_

* * *

"You guys went all out there."

"Sure did! Man, I feel good!" Natsu grinned as he and Happy went through the forest, having just finished training with Gajeel. It ended sooner than both expected on account of their hunger.

"So, what..." Happy stopped as a strange sound reached his ears and saw what looked like a crystal floating above them with a bullet lodged in the center. "Was that just..."

"Yeah, it's probably one of them." Natsu returned and with that the two went to the area the crystal circulated and as expected, found Hope there talking to Bisca.

A number of targets lay around the trees, most of them had bullets in the center. Hope fired one at the target on his far right and watched it hit dead on.

"Nice!"

He blinked and turned, finally noticing Natsu and Happy. "Oh, hey guys."

"Bisca, you're training too?" Natsu tilted his head.

"Hey, I thought I'd see if Hope was keeping up with our lessons. Turns out I had nothing to worry about so why not?" She said with a shrug.

"We saw the crystal. Nice shot," Happy praised the two.

"Thanks," both smiled before Hope continued, putting his weapons away. "...It seemed like a good time to practice." Hope smiled, putting his weapons away. "So, how did the spar with Gajeel go?"

"Ah, not bad." Natsu answered, leaning back on a tree. "The guy's still annoying but we can get along well enough, I guess..."

"Whoa, hold on!" Happy cut in, confused. "So Hope brought up the training idea? How come?"

"It's something I heard from Igneel," Hope admitted, surprising them. "He said he had a friend who he was close to but they never got along till they proved their strength to each other in battle. When I asked him why, he said some people can be like that and sometimes differences can't be sorted out through words alone and well...actions can be more powerful than words sometimes, right?"

"Guess so...wonder where that friend is..." Happy looked up at the sky.

"Yeah, maybe I could've asked him where Igneel was now..." Natsu trailed off.

"So no luck on that front, huh?" Bisca asked.

He frowned "Not even close."

Happy suddenly remembered something "Oh yeah, Bisca, I saw Alzack before we came here. He said he had a job and he wants you to come along."

"Yeah? I'll get ready then. Thanks Happy." She left, bidding them farewell.

"Hey, guys...you want to see something I've been working on?" Hope smiled at the curious looks his question got.

* * *

Natsu and Happy watched the display light up brightly and colorfully in wonder before fading away. The first picked up the ring with a red gemstone. "So now you know how to store magic in items like other templars do?"

"Yup, Levy really helped me out there. I've been trying it out and it's looking good so far. The part I've got right isn't for battle but I figure it might be good for Fantasia." Hope answered as they made their way to the guild.

"Yeah, that could totally work! You should show it to Gramps."

"Come to think of it, the parade's falling on the same day as..." Happy mumbled thoughtfully.

Natsu heard him "Same day as what?"

"You forgot?"

Hope wasn't sure what Happy was talking about either since he wasn't fully concentrating on the conversation. But he did have an idea on why Natsu was like this. "You're still worried, huh?"

Natsu blinked "Tch...that obvious?"

"Pretty much." Hope and Happy exchanged a look, knowing what that meant.

His latest search for Igneel had failed again and they still weren't close to picking up any clues on the dragon's whereabouts. It was easy to see that it was frustrating the dragon slayer to no end.

"It's just annoying, you know?" Natsu said. This wasn't the first time they walked about his failed search, since they tried before. Hope had been nothing but supportive of his attempts to find Igneel even when a number of his guild mates have been less than helpful, something Natsu was eternally grateful for.

Happy had been initially surprised to find Natsu so willing to talk about his feelings here but he supposed having someone understanding and someone who knew you so well would help there. Hope was always there for them, and he truly listened and was willing to lend a hand when they were in need if possible, which was another reason he found the brunet to be reliable.

"Well, I think it's actually good that you're keeping up looking like this, and actually impressive. Gajeel said he stopped and I'm not even sure what she thinks..." Hope trailed off.

"She? You mean that girl you told us about?" Natsu clarified.

Hope nodded, thinking back to the young dragon slayer he had met a while back while doing a job for the council. It just so happened that their jobs were in the same area and he ended up helping her. They'd ran into each other a couple of more times, and got along pretty well. Even Endymion, who wasn't exactly trusting in general, liked her. "She just said she was wondering what happened to her dragon but she didn't know how to even start looking..."

"I can get that." Natsu groaned a little. "It's just so confusing! That they'd disappear on us like that. Families don't do that..."

"I'm sure they have their reasons. I've been around the two of you long enough to know Igneel makes a good dad, so the first thing you should do when we find him is ask why."

"We? You mean you're still..."

"Didn't we have this conversation already? Of course I'm helping you look." Hope cut him off.

"Me too!" Happy landed on Hope's head and Natsu gave them a grateful look. "One of us better be there though because if Natsu snaps and Igneel has the same temper than it'll be a disaster..."

"Oi, I won't do that!"

"I wonder..." Happy trailed off as Natsu gave him a peeved look.

"Okay that's enough, you two." Hope said, continuing the walk. "And for the record, Happy, Igneel wasn't exactly patient but Natsu's definitely a lot more temperamental."

"Well, that figures. Natsu has to do things in extremes anyway..." Happy replied. "...What are you going to do about the ring?"

"Well..." Hope trailed off, studying the item.

Natsu blinked "Oh yeah, what were you talking about Happy?"

The cat groaned "You really don't get it? Hope's the one who made sure we remembered yours!"

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"Being subtle doesn't work here. You should know that by now." Gray said, walking over to the group of three.

"You know what he's talking about?" Natsu asked.

"Sure do but you're not getting it out of me." Gray looked at Hope, who was staring at his ring with a contemplative look. "Before I forget again, Hope, we need to talk." The brunet tilted his head in silent question. "Exactly what happened after you and Endymion fused? How come you're supposedly dead?"

It took Hope a moment to remember what Lucy told him about Roy and he said "...Because we wanted it that way. I didn't know someone made up such a story to begin with. Three of the dark mages responsible behind the experiment found about the results so they tried to get me to restart their original plan and make me a weapon. I stopped it but then...Endymion thought faking my death would be the best way to end this so that's what we did. It...didn't go too well but at least the idea fulfilled its purpose." He rubbed a hand over his arm unconsciously.

Happy and Gray knew that he and Endymion had known each other for years now. To think he had to go through all this just because of some people's selfish desires angered them. Granted, Endymion was the only good thing that came of all this but everything that led to it was awful. The people even hunted him down afterwards to the extent that it forced him and Endymion into such a corner...

"That...actually explains a few things about you..." Gray said awkwardly. "Sorry man, no wonder you avoid talking about your past."

Hope shook his head "It's okay. I figured that was coming at some point."

"So...how about getting back to Fantasia?" Happy said, his attempt to change the subject was crystal clear but they went along with it. "You should show Master the ring!"

* * *

Just like they expected, Makarov was glad to see the ring. He studied the item closely as he, Hope and Gray sat near the bar. Aside from being supportive of most of his children's endeavors, he could see the effort Hope put in and he was genuinely pleased ."Very nice! And this is just a work in progress?"

"Yup, I was just trying something out. I think I might have worked out a way to make the spell stronger but I need to get more Argonium for that." Argonium was a common ore especially for templars as it conducted their power really well. Luckily, there was some right in a small cavern north of Magnolia.

"All right, you do that," Makarov said. "If this works out then we'll definitely use it in Fantasia."

"See, what did we tell you?" Gray grinned. "This is actually pretty useful. Can't wait to see what you come up with later."

"I'll be sure to show you." Hope said.

"Oh come on! I can totally pull through!"

"Meh, I don't see it..."

Lucy and Happy walked near the three, the first holding up a poster with a contemplative frown on her face. Makarov blinked, realizing what it was. "Lucy, you're entering the Miss Fairy tail contest?"

"Hm? Yeah, probably...I'd just like it if Happy can stop putting down people for once! He said I don't have a chance of winning." The blond glared at Happy then.

"No need to be so harsh. There's a fair chance for everyone. I mean sure, we've got favorites and all but that still doesn't take the chance." The guild master shrugged.

"Thank you. See, Happy, if you won't be supportive at least be impartial!"

"Hey, I was just trying to put you down with kindness but if you don't like it..."

"Telling me my chances are less than zero the moment I saw the poster isn't putting me down with kindness." Lucy cut him off.

Gray looked at the cat "You actually said that?"

"Eh, I don't remember my exact words..."

'Well, if you're going to try anyway than you might as well ignore him and put your head in this.' Endymion piped up.

"Oh, I will. I'm in it to win!"

* * *

"Hold on...just take it easy."

A groan sounded at this "That's all I can do at this point..." Natsu mumbled as Hope helped him walk. He had been on his way to the cave when he and Lucy found Natsu slumped out the guild in clear exhaustion. The three were near the blond's apartment now but Natsu seemed like he couldn't even stay up at this point.

'Exactly what happened?' Endymion wondered.

"Well, this is probably because he ate the magic infused Etherion..." Lucy said, recalling what happened at the Tower of Heaven. "Guess the huge power boost comes back with an equal withdrawal later."

"Ugh, you guys mind taking this conversation later?! I can't take this anymore..." Natsu moaned.

"Right, sorry..." Lucy responded quickly. "...Ah, tell you what, Hope. Just bring him up to my place. His is way too far now anyway."

"Got it." After taking the key from her, Hope and Natsu left.

The brunet came down minutes later "He's out cold. You must have had some mess with the tower..."

"You don't know the half of it..." Lucy saw a figure rushing by. "...Hey, was that..."

"I think...Juvia-san?" Hope questioned.

The figure stopped, revealing itself to be the water mage "Oh hi there, sorry I can't talk now. I need to find another shop..."

"Well, there's a bunch here..." Lucy pointed to the street behind her. "...What're you exactly looking for?"

"A swimsuit."

"Oh, then you might want to try the one right at the end. They had some pretty cute ones the other day."

"I'll do that." Juvia thanked her then. "But don't think this means anything, Juvia won't lose to you!"

"That again?" An exasperated Lucy asked. "Juvia, come on!"

Hope blinked, confused before looking between the girls "Lose in what? You mean Miss Fairy tail?"

"Well, that too but it's actually..." Juvia stopped when she noticed Gray coming out of the street, holding a purple bag. "Gray-sama!"

"Hm? Oh, it's you guys." He walked over.

"What were you doing there?" Lucy asked.

"Mira asked me to pick something up for her but it turned out they needed more time so second time's the charm, I guess." Gray answered with a shrug.

Juvia smiled "Oh, Gray-sama, you're so kind!"

He gave her a look "Nothin' so special." Pointedly ignoring her exclamation of "And so modest too!" he spoke "So you're going to get the material now, Hope? Not interested in the contest?"

"Not really..."

"Oh, I know! No one in particular you got an eye on? From what I hear, voting can affect our chances later on..." Gray said.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything but I know where I need to go to get the best ore so I might make it in time." Hope answered.

'That's not exactly what he means, Hope.' Endymion informed, having expected Hope's response.

The boy seemed confused and Gray chuckled "Never mind, on the off chance that you make it, who would you vote for?"

"I haven't really thought about it...maybe Lucy?"

"You mean that? Thanks, Hope!" The blonde gave him a quick hug, glad that she was the first one he'd think of. "So nice to have someone supportive..."

"You're still mad at Happy?"

"Yeah, but I'll prove my point soon. I'm all set now. So who'll you vote for, Gray?"

Gray stiffened, noting Juvia's hopeful stare and Lucy's sly smile "Well, I'm a little lost there so I...figure I'll just see the acts..."

"Then Juvia will make sure to be the best!" The water mage said, her eyes a lit with determination.

Lucy snickered and whispered to Hope "For reasons that are totally beyond me, Juvia seems to believe that I'm her love rival for Gray's heart."

"Oh, that's what it was about..." He glanced at the bluenette. "...Well, in case we don't make it good luck to the both of you."

"Thanks." The girls responded, watching him leave.

"He sure picked some timing to leave." Gray remarked.

Lucy tilted her head a bit "Well, he probably didn't have any choice. The mine's abundant only a lot of people go to there so he's afraid he'll miss a good chance."

"Oh." He nodded in understanding.

"You're horrible, messing around with him like that." Lucy punched on the arm playfully.

"That was way too good of a shot to pass up." Gray shrugged. It was only because Endymion interfered that he couldn't go further.

"Hope-san's smart but he's really not good with romance, is he?" An amused Juvia asked.

"You can say that again..."

Gray blinked "Oh yeah! You girls heard about the Fantasia parade, right?"

"Sure."

"Well, it just so happens..."

* * *

Hope managed to fly over half the distance with no trouble before he reached the part of the forest that was particularly filled with tall trees that blocked his view so he had to land and walk from there to the cave.

"You're trying to analyze the pendant, Endymion?"

'Try being the keyword here.' The phoenix responded. His friend might have had the item for sometime but it piqued his curiosity. Not to mention that what happened in Forza worried him. Only his attempts weren't really bearing fruit. 'I'm starting to think it's some sort of old artifact. You still don't remember who gave it to you?'

Hope shook his head and Endymion continued. 'There's quite the magic power assembled in those shards...making for some sort of protection. That second shard enhanced your magic power, didn't it?'

"Yeah, it feels that way..." Hope trailed off, looking at the item once more. "Maybe..."

"There you are!" A loud voice boomed.

A bewildered Hope stopped walking in time to see a Vulcan land from the small hill to his far right. The place was nearly covered by the plant life and Hope was concentrated on the discussion so he never noticed the creature.

"About time one of you came by here!" The Vulcan continued. "What, kid, so scared you can't speak?"

Hope was more confused than anything "...Wait, it couldn't be..."

'Couldn't be what?'

"You're that same Vulcan from the mountain, aren't you?" Hope asked.

"You bet I am! I'm not letting you humans get away with humiliating me like that!"

Endymion then realized Hope meant the creature who had caused all that trouble back with Team Natsu's first mission. '...You must be joking...'

The Vulcan glared down at Hope "I remember you too, kid! Time for some payback!"

"You'd be better off leaving."

"What?! You think you can beat me on your own? Don't make me laugh."

Hope just sighed, watching the charging creature "I'd rather avoid this sort of battle but all right, I warned you."

In a flash, he managed to dodge the Vulcan's punch, having used his magic to greatly enhance his speed. Unfazed, the monster tried again only to freeze in surprise when its fist was caught by a hand made of light magic. Hope snapped his fingers and the hand grew large enough to hold the Vulcan down.

'At this point, you should just make sure he never does this again. Maybe make sure he backs off for good?'

"Well..." Hope fired a bullet which he used to blast a tree just beside the Vulcan, who paled when he saw that the bullet knocked it down. If he could do that to the tree without breaking a sweat...

Hope was indifferent to the monster's fear as he said "I don't think you want to be there when I hit my mark next time. Do you?"

A quick shake of the head was all he got since the hand was still clamped over the Vulcan's mouth.

"Now let's get something straight here, I can make sure you stay right in that spot for as long as I want but let's not go there. Do you want that?"

A shake of the head.

"Then you'll stop terrorizing others and causing trouble?"

An even quicker nod.

"You might not be lucky to avoid trouble next time. I'm going to let you go now so do us all a favor and leave."

The Vulcan nodded again. Hope canceled his spell, watching the monster all but flee.

'Or you could do that.' Endymion said. Reinforcement of consequences was effective after all, the phoenix supposed. Watching his host lecture monster like a naughty kid was funny and he had to work to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Not that Hope missed it "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

'Who, me?'

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Fairy Tail...

"So everyone's getting ready for the Harvest festival..." Erza mused from her seat near the bar.

"Yeah, I'm guessing you're done?" Mira asked with a smile.

"Naturally, I'm ready for Miss Fairy tail as well."

"That's just like you, ready for anything."

The redhead smiled a bit "So what about you?"

"Oh, I'm done too!" She beamed. "I've got a little surprise set for Miss Fairy tail by the way, look forward to it."

Nab, who saw Levy enter called out "Oi, Levy! Laxus is really in town? I heard Jet grumbling something about that..."

She nodded, frowning a little "It looked like he just got back."

Erza frowned at her tone, something was clearly off. "Did something happen?"

"N-no! It's nothing..."

"He's back, huh? Why do I get the feeling that something's about to go really wrong?" Macao wondered.

* * *

Lucy looked at Natsu, who was still out like a light "He's really worn out, huh?"

"Yeah," Happy, who was sitting on one of the couch's arms answered. "I think he's getting better though. He did sleep for 3 days...what?" He added at Lucy's peeved look.

"I know that." She responded. "You guys just crashed on my bed again, remember?"

She thanked the lucky stars she was born under when she asked Hope for help. Once again proving to be a great problem solver, the boy used his light magic to take Natsu home, making sure not to wake the dragon slayer once. The two ended up taking turns to check over their teammate afterwards, finding that he really had slept for 3 days straight.

"Oh we did?" Happy said while scratching the wall with his claws. "It slipped my mind..."

He yelped when Lucy kicked him "Stop that! Don't be such a cat here!"

"But it's what I am...It's cruel to not let be myself."

Her brow twitched "Don't...push it." Happy's eyes widened. Her own were dangerously narrowed, her mouth set in a near-snarl and nostrils flared, with the aura she was emanating now Happy knew he just stirred a dragon's nest. "Scary!"

He was surprised when the expression vanished only to be replaced a grin. "What the heck was that?!"

"By your face, I'm guessing it was effective." Lucy said. "Loke told me something the other day about how Aquarius could scare people off with a glare, even some of her enemies. I've seen it enough times to remember so I thought why not?"

"Don't do that again! It was really, really scary..." Happy trailed off.

The blond just laughed "It was so worth it! Too bad Natsu's out, I would have liked to see his reaction."

"Lucy, you're mean!"

* * *

'Hope.'

The boy blinked, stopping near the entrance. Something about the way the phoenix held himself in their shared mindspace tipped him off that something was wrong.

Looking around the cave, he suddenly had a guess what.

'...How many?'

'Plenty. Be careful.'

'Always.' Hope quickly fired a bullet that let out a flash at the ground. Some cries sounded at this and a group of men in dark clothes and cloths covering their faces came out of hiding, holding their heads as the flash blinded. They were soon followed by more.

"Tch, guess you saw through that, brat." One of them ground out. "Doesn't matter, we can't let you leave this place in one piece."

Hope's eyes narrowed in response and he prepared himself for the upcoming battle.

* * *

The Miss Fairy tail pageant had began a while later, with plenty gathered around to see the contestants...

"The battle of beauty between our female fairies. The Miss Fairy tail contest will now get under way! I am Max Alors, the sand wizard, and I will be your host!"

Max's grin widened at the crowd's cheering. Everyone had their eyes on the stage...well, almost, Natsu and Happy were stuffing their faces with food they grabbed on the way.

"Entry number one is the exotic beauty with a bottomless pit for a stomach, Cana Alberona!"

The dark haired girl walked to the stage with a smirk, using her cards which began surrounding her. She surprised everyone by changing into a swimsuit.

"I'll take that beer money." She added at the rising cheers.

"Well, that's just typical." Gray muttered.

"I'll say." Happy added, glancing at the stage. "Hey, Natsu! That's my fish!"

Warren laughed as the two started arguing over the food "Somethings never change..."

Gray snorted "Tell me about it."

Max went on announcing "Entry number two, Newcomer she maybe, but her abilities are S-class without a doubt! Rain or shine, this woman will steal your heart! Juvia Locsker!"

And that marked the water mage's entrance on the stage. Max then commented how her performance complemented her swimsuit as she chose to turn her body into water and then reappear, having changed into a swimsuit.

"Gray-sama, did you see? This performance is dedicated to you!" Juvia declared.

"Well at least we know whose heart is going to be stolen." Jet smirked.

"Very funny." Gray glared at him.

"And we all know entry number three! Fairy tail's poster girl whose beauty is renowned throughout the land! Mirajane!" Max declared, making room for the white haired beauty.

Mirajane beamed at the cheering crowd "My specialty is transformation magic so that's what I'll be using! Head-only Happy!" And in a flash, her head matched that of the blue cat and a number of the audience choked in shock. It wasn't clear if she noticed or not as she proceeded to let out an "Aye!" then.

It only got 'better'. "Head-only Gajeel!" This made the iron dragon slayer spit out what he was drinking and the rest turn away or sigh. Unbeknownst to most, this was Mira's payback for when he tied her up backstage.

Natsu blinked at the scene "Hey, how come you didn't tell me they get to play jokes on us?"

"Because they don't." Happy said.

Warren nodded "You know Mira just likes to think outside the box."

"That might be putting it nicely..." Wakaba muttered.

Max moved things along "Entry number five is none other than our very own Titania! Erza Scarlet!"

The redhead walked confidently on the stage "I'll show you all something special." This was followed by what they knew to be the light of a re-equip. For a moment people presumed she meant new armor...

That thought was crushed a moment later when the light vanished, revealing the S-class mage dressed in a black and white Gothic lolita costume, making many jaws drops before cheers arose once more. Erza smirked and walked off stage. "Victory is mine."

"Entry number six, the little fairy with cutes and intelligence, Levy McGarden!"

Levy entered the scene with a smile among the cheers, "Solid Script!" Big, colorful words appeared before her.

Next came Bisca, introduced as the 'Sexy Sniper' by Max. The woman smiled, flicked her hat "Re-equip!" She threw four coins and shot them down with the rifle she summoned, getting an elated response from the crowd. "The Gunner!"

Max cleared his throat. "Entry number seven, our guild's super rookie. The new star sparkling with the guidance of the celestial spirits. Lucy!" He stopped there since the girl had asked him earlier to leave her family name out.

Lucy walked out, dressed in a blue cheerleader outfit with her keys on a belt and her whip on the other side of the belt. "I'm going to do a cheer routine with my spirits..."

Unfortunately, she didn't get very far because a voice cut in "Entry number eight!"

"What?"

A woman in a green dress with matching shoes with light brown hair landed on the stage from the rail above it. "Yes, if you need beauty, I'm what you want. The winner is me, Evergreen! Hai, the idiotic contest is now over."

Lucy wouldn't take that lying down though "Hey, don't get in my way! I didn't even start!"

"Lucy, don't look into her eyes!" Gray warned.

But it was too late, as the frowning Evergreen proceeded to turn Lucy into a stone statue with a glance.

"What do you think you're doing, Evergreen?" Makarov walked to the stage. "Do you plan on ruining the festival?"

"Hardly, don't you need entertainment for that?" The woman snapped her fingers and the curtains rose, revealing that the rest of the girls had been turned to stone too.

Makarov's demand to return them to normal was ignored before lightning crashed onto the stage, soon revealing Laxus.

"Yo, Fairy fails! This is where the festival begins!"

"Laxus..."

"Freed?" Natsu said, noticing a green haired mage in a red outfit on the second floor.

"And Bickslow..." Gray continued, his eyes traveling to the mage dressed like a knight beside him, a number of dolls was floating behind him.

"Let's play, Jiji." said Laxus. "Wonder how many will be left for Fantasia? These women are my hostages. Break the rules, I break_them, _one by one."

"This isn't funny, Laxus!" His grandfather snapped.

"Did it sound like I was trying to be funny?"

Freed and Bickslow joined the group "It's time to find out who the strongest in Fairy tail is."

"Time for fun!" The latter stated, the dolls soon repeated the word.

Laxus smirked "The rules are simple! The last one standing is the winner! Battle of Fairy Tail!"

"I like it! I'm getting fired up!" Natsu exclaimed.

The S-class mage was less than thrilled at the response. "I hate that eager spirit of yours." He proceeded to blast the charging fire mage with lightning and knock him out.

"You idiot!" Makarov grumbled.

"Meh, he needed to cool down anyway." Laxus shrugged. "More importantly, if you want these girls to return to normal, you have to take us all down."

"Four of us, and around 100 or so, huh?" said Bickslow.

"Anyway, you all have three hours. That's how long the spell stays before they turn to dust." Evergreen informed.

"Magnolia's the battlefield. You find us and we fight." Laxus said curtly.

"Laxus!" A fed up Makarov snarled before going to Titan mode "Stop this foolishness!"

"Oi, oi, it's entertainment for the festival, Jiji. Looks like Natsu's not the only one who needs to cool down." Laxus replied. "Time to have fun! Let the Battle of Fairy tail begin!"

The group of four vanished with a flash. The fairy tail mages wasted no time in going after them. Makarov soon made to follow "I'll stop you!"

But then he slammed into something at the entrance.

Gray turned "Gramps?!"

"An invisible wall?"

Raising an eye, the ice mage tried to get him through but something stopped him. "What the heck..." He let out at the sight of the purple flying letters that appeared then.

"Freed's runes..." Makarov realized than they were set up as it stated than those older than 80 or stone statues can not pass. He inwardly growled, Freed's magic might not be suited for direct battle but it was brilliant for something like this. Worst thing is, there was nothing he could do.

"Guess that means we'll have to handle it." Gray said. "Come on, Natsu!"

"Yeah!" They were all stunned when the dragon slayer slammed into the same wall.

"Hey, what gives?!"

* * *

Hope conjured up a shield to block one of his attackers bombs before dodging a slash from another one's sword. He proceeded to fire a Maelstrom that took a number of them out but found more waiting.

Just what was going on here? He couldn't see this being some coincidence, it was too well planned out. He had spotted one of their traps near the gate and it was clearly meant to trap him here. It didn't look like they had been here for that long either.

'...Someone wants to keep you out of the town.' Endymion said, eyes narrowing at the thought.

"Did something happen?" Hope found himself wondering then. "I hope everyone's okay..."

* * *

_I think I'll leave it at this point. It seems to be the best point. Next chapter should be up soon!_

_I'm out!_


	15. Chapter 15

"What's going on here?!"

A while after Gray left Makarov, Natsu and Happy watched the runes create more letters and the guild master read that it stated that his members were falling out and fighting among themselves.

"Max Vs Warren, Winner: Warren..." Makarov read with wide eyes. "Why are they fighting?!"

The runes slowly began listing more people, ending with Macao and Wakaba's on going battle...

"Stop this, you foolish children!" Makarov exclaimed.

"This is the Battle of Fairy Tail Laxus wanted..." Happy trailed off.

"Why? I don't get it!"

They looked at Natsu, who then proceeded to cry out "I wanna join too!"

"That's what you're upset about?!" Makarov and Happy wondered.

"And what exactly will you do once you join?"

"It's just a tournament to see who's the strongest!" Natsu replied.

"How?!" Makarov continued. "This is no tournament! Laxus wants us to wipe each other out. Unless we can defeat the Thunder God Tribe in time, the girls are going to turn into dust! There won't be any way to stop them."

But Natsu clearly wasn't buying that "You worry too much, Gramps. Laxus is bluffing, he's a fellow guild mate. There's no way he'd go that far. This is just a fighting festival!" Natsu hit the wall. "Why can't I get out? Happy can!"

"Yeah..." Happy nodded.

Makarov considered the dragon slayer's words, watching the two go at it. Happy glanced at the wall, which showed there were 2 hours and 18 minutes left and 42 people left. "T-that's more than half the guild..."

"As expected of Freed! Look at him go!" Natsu said excitedly when it turned out Freed beat Reedus.

"Natsu, get serious!" Makarov smacked him on the head. "Now we can't get help from Porlyusica!"

But Natsu stated that they didn't need any, since he believed this was Laxus was bluffing.

"Oh, really?" The lightning mage appeared behind them then. Makarov recognized this as a thought projection.

"Laxus..."

"So why are you here, Natsu?" Laxus continued.

"I can't get out either!"

Laxus turned to Makarov "I bet you can't stand it, huh, Jiji? Your children destroying each other. Natsu and Erza can't join. No one can beat my Raijinshuu now. Gonna give in?"

"We still have Gray!" Happy stated.

"Gray? I wouldn't put much faith in that brat."

"Don't underestimate him, Laxus!" Makarov said.

"Yeah? When was the last time you took a look at the score?" The blond cocked his head at the runes and Makarov's mouth fell as he read that Gray lost to Bickslow. "Told you. So who does that leave?"

"Gajeel!" Makarov tried.

"You think he actually gives a damn about the guild?" Laxus asked. The three soon realized that the iron dragon slayer was actually here, eating some dishware.

"How come you're still here?" Happy asked.

"Same reason Salamander is."

"You're 80 years old?!" Said dragon slayer cried.

"As if!"

"Well, there's still us!" Natsu reminded.

"You're trapped, so you're effectively useless." Laxus pointed out.

"Master, there's really no way to get rid of the runes?" Happy asked anxiously.

"Not that I know of." The man admitted grudgingly, clenching his fists then. "If Hope was here, we could have tried his magic but I'm not sure if it works."

"Yeah...I thought he'd be back by now. It's some terrible timing, he could have helped us out."

"Oh yeah now that you mention it..." The two looked at Laxus. "...According to Evergreen, Chibi probably has his hands full right now."

* * *

This was annoying to say the least, Endymion thought as he watched Hope avoid another blow. Their enemies were using the cave's tight space to their advantage, further cementing their idea that someone was waiting for Hope to get here. It was just lucky that Hope knew how to rely on skill as much as power and so control the magic they would use or their spells would have caused a cave in a long time ago.

"I'm actually impressed. I guess that's what you'd expect from the rumored new Oracle." The apparent leader of the group said. "You're handling us all well. I thought you'd be swamped the moment you arrived but you actually took half of us down and still look ready for more."

"...Oracle?" Hope repeated.

"Well, that's why you have that pendant isn't it?" The man returned. "Who else could you be?"

Thing is, Hope didn't have the slightest idea what the man was talking about. Was he mixing him up with someone else?

He didn't have much time to think about as five of the group lined up and one proceeded to freeze him. Hope countered this with the best way he knew, concentrating his magic to form a shield around him, repelling the spell. He quickly switched his weapon to sword mode and thrust forward twice, knocking one of the bandits daggers off before taking him out with a chop to the neck with the sword's hilt. The other two made to attack but were stunned to see that Hope had moved.

"When did he..." One of them yelped as Hope landed behind him and slashed the man with a light reinforced sword to the gut before hitting his partner with a star shaped energy blast, knocking them both down.

_'I've never been so thankful for Erza and Endymion's advice...'_ Hope thought to himself before preparing his pistols and facing the attackers again.

* * *

"What did you do to Hope?" Makarov demanded.

"Who knows." Laxus smirked. "Well, even if he was here, Chibi won't help you. I still stand by what I said. He's barely fit to be a mage with that weak body, and you all store way too much by his abilities."

"You know what, you're just full of big talk!" Happy said.

"Yeah," For once Natsu looked angry at the blond. "I'm sick of you talking down to Hope like that when he's been nothing but nice to you! Just wait, we'll stop you."

Laxus wasn't affected "Protective, aren't we? Feel free to try."

"...All right, that's enough." Makarov said with a glare. "I surrender."

"Ah, you think it's that easy? Someone with your position should name me as Master."

Natsu snarled "You're playing dirty! What, too scared to deal with me?"

So this was his goal all along, Makarov's eyes narrowed. They listened to Laxus remind them about the time limit and tell Makarov to announce his retirement by using the guild's loudspeakers.

"So which is more important, your position or guild mates?" Laxus added.

"Wait...!" Natsu stopped when he faded away. "How can he be the strongest like this? He can't be Master..."

"I don't care about that." He turned to Makarov. "I don't know what to do to stop all this. But I can't entrust the guild to Laxus, he doesn't understand the responsibilities of this position!"

"Yeah, but what do we do now? At this rate the girls...Whoa! Natsu, what you're doing?!"

At the cat's panicked tone, Makarov and Gajeel looked at Natsu, who was holding a fiery fist and walking to the girls.

"I've been thinking..." He began.

"That's not good." Gajeel grunted.

"...I could just melt the stone shell, you know?" Natsu continued as he stopped by Erza's statue, ignoring this.

"...Yup, him thinking is definitely not good..." Gajeel muttered.

"Stop it! You're going to kill her!" Makarov exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'll broil her up nice and good..." Natsu froze when the statue cracked. "...Happy, get the glue! We gotta do something!"

"Aye sir!"

"You idiots think that would fix her?!" Gajeel demanded.

Their eyes widened when the statue shattered. Erza started moving. "...It was hot. Natsu, what did you do?" She asked, punching him and throwing him at Gajeel from the force of the move. The latter looked annoyed as he grabbed Natsu and let him fall to the ground.

_'The idiot had it coming.' _He thought.

"Erza's okay!" Happy cheered.

"I think...it's because of my right eye." The girl admitted, placing a hand near the artificial organ.

"So you know what's going on?" Makarov asked.

"Yeah, I could hear everything."

"So that makes three left, right?" Natsu asked.

Erza was about to agree but then she read that the runes said there was five of them. "Who..."

Makarov missed this "It's time...what now?!" He blurted as the seven girls were surrounded by a silver magic circle that formed a bubble around them. The bubble bathed them in light for a few moments and in the next second, they were back to normal.

Bisca glanced at the door and smiled "You're back. And with good time to spare."

Lucy followed her line of sight and smiled widely "Hope!"

* * *

The newly arrived templar walked in "What's going on? I found Reedus and Max all beaten up on my way and they just mentioned a battle before they passed out. Why were you all turned to stone?"

While he and Erza briefed each other on their sides respective situations, everyone stopped to consider the next step.

"At least now, Laxus doesn't have anything leverage." Levy remarked.

"Yeah, but the situation's gone too far to stop now." Natsu pointed out.

"You can say that again. He needs to be stopped." Gajeel said.

"Did you see anyone else?" Erza asked Hope, noting the runes raising the numbers. "There seems to be someone more but we're all here."

"Nope, not quite. He's back."

Her eyes widened "You mean..."

He nodded "We saw him near the entrance. It looked like he had an idea of what was going on..."

"Talk about unexpected..."

"Who's he?" Gajeel asked.

* * *

Laxus smirked to himself, leaning back in his seat at Cardia Cathedral. He already knew the hostages were free but he could care less with this news. "No chance we can't start a fighting festival with the top 3 are here. Time to see who's the best."

* * *

"We've got to end this. There's no way Laxus is going to learn his lesson if we don't stop him." Bisca stated.

"Yeah, I'll make sure of that." Makarov clenched his fists.

"But Natsu and Master still can't get out..." Levy said, frowning in thought.

"Hope, how did you get in town in the first place? Isn't it blocked off?" asked Happy.

"I followed Mystogan-san. I don't know he did it either but maybe..." He had an idea then. The pendant did strengthen his magic, maybe if he tried to focus its power...

He touched the runes and closed his eyes. The pendant began to shine then, shooting out two waves of silver light which hit the runes, and they vanished then.

"It worked!"

"You can actually wipe the runes out? Nice work!" Cana remarked.

"All right, it's time to go!" Natsu grinned.

* * *

"Well, look who it is!"

Natsu, Erza and Hope stopped running when Evergreen blocked their path. "I wondered how they were all released. Your magic is even more troublesome than I thought. We were right to keep you away, Hope. Especially if you can destroy Freed's runes." She smirked at the glares she received. "So, you really think you can stop us?"

"Absolutely." Erza replied. "Natsu, Hope, go find Laxus. Leave her to me."

"Yeah, just make sure you catch up quick!" Natsu said.

"Of course I will."

Evergreen's eyes narrowed "You think I'll be so easy? Well, you've got another thing coming! You don't deserve to be Titania, I'm the number one fairy!"

* * *

A figure spotted the boys looking around town and Gajeel jumping from roofs. He wore dark clothes, with bandages over his arms, legs and waste and a cloth that covered his mouth along with a bandana. Five staffs were on his back. This was Mystogan, the third candidate for the strongest in Fairy tail along with Erza and Laxus.

He closed his eyes and turned to leave when he saw Hope stop and concentrate, knowing what the brunet by the sudden concentration of magic power he felt.

* * *

"Just give up. You can't stop me!" Evergreen taunted as she sent powered up version of her Fairy Machine gun at Erza.

But the redhead surprised her by taking up two extra swords with the ones already in hand and using her feet to defend herself. "N-no way..."

Erza re-equipped her Heaven's Wheel Armor. "Just give up. You don't have any hold over me and your stone eyes won't work, enough."

"Hmph, We came prepared, you know!"

"What?"

* * *

"It's about time we go too." Lucy said, a little while had passed as since Natsu, Hope, Erza and Gajeel left. They knew the four were going to deal with Laxus so that just left them to decide on how best to proceed.

"Yeah, let's sort this mess out," Cana agreed.

Everyone started at the sound of a chuckle and turned to see Laxus' thought projection appear again...

"Just give it up, Laxus. Now I know why you wanted to keep Hope away, he ruined your plan, you don't have anything on us!" Makarov said.

"Yeah?" The blond smirked. "Well, I'm here to tell you that I just set Thunder Palace up around Magnolia."

"You what?!"

"Hey, I gotta keep the game running after all. It's set to activate after an hour and ten minutes."

The look on his face was unnerving the observers. "...What's Thunder Palace?" asked Juvia.

No one could answer then because a shocked Makarov fell to his knees then, gaining alarmed reactions from everyeone. "Master!"

* * *

Evergreen let out more of her magic to create a flash bomb and hopefully stun Erza so she could petrify her but found the S-class mage running through the blast and kicking her before she could try anything else. The woman didn't know about Erza's artificial eye breaking her free and presumed that like with the rest of the hostages, Hope had been the one to free her.

Before Evergreen quite knew it, Erza had donned her armor and pointed a horde of weapons at her.

"So, are you willing to continue?"

That was the point the wannabe queen caved...

* * *

An enraged Laxus stood, gritting his teeth as he wondered why Evergreen lost.

Freed stood behind him with a stoic expression. "Erza's just too strong. Me or Bickslow should have been the ones to deal with her." He crossed his arms. "Laxus, it's time this ends. Its just like I feared, Hope managed to obliterate my runes even with my attempt to stop that..."

The green haired mage froze as a lightning blast zipped past him. Laxus glared at him "End? It'll only end when I'm the Master." He ground out. "If you're chickening out than you don't have a place in my guild."

"...Very well then. I'll keep this going...and follow you to the depths of hell if needed. Just don't have any regrets later."

"Naturally. I'll only regret this if it fails."

* * *

The remaining fairy tail mages had divided into four groups, one caring for the ill Makarov, the second trying to find the Thunder god tribe and the third to get Laxus.

The fourth, consisting of Lucy and Happy, were trying to find a way to get the people of Magnolia to evacuate because of Thunder Palace. They just couldn't seem a way that would work. Freed had made sure that only Makarov could use the guild's loudspeakers...

"I can't think of anything that would get the people to leave without scaring them..." Happy admitted.

"Same here, the Raijinshuu really didn't leave anything up to chance." Lucy looked around. "Maybe we could..." She stopped when she glimpsed something coming their way. An instinct warned her that this was trouble. "...Happy, get down now!"

"Eh? Whoa!" Fortunately, the cat reacted fast enough to avoid the energy beam that seemed to come out of no where. He lowered Lucy to a building's floor then. "Where'd that come from?"

"There." Lucy pointed out a flying doll. "I saw that thing flying around before...and something about it gives me a bad vibe."

"That's one of Bickslow's puppets! Which means..." Happy was cut off by the sound of laughter and they whirled around to find the soul mage standing on the top of a building that towered over them.

"Well, well, look what we have here..."

* * *

Cana and Juvia ended up running into each other and paired up, soon finding Freed. "So, it's you two, hm?"

"Freed, enough of this! You're taking this way too far!" Cana pointed out.

Freed merely raised an eye "You're still trying to reason with me?"

She frowned back "You always seemed like the most sensible of the Raijinshuu, I hoped you'd understand why we'd want to end this. We're all in the same guild, why do the four of you have to make things so difficult?"

"We might be in the same guild but that's all we have in common. The differences between us are too much. Besides, Laxus is going to change the guild. I still don't see how Master Makarov let untrustworthy people so easily." Juvia flinched at that but Freed turned to leave.

"Oi, wait!" The girls went after him.

Soon Cana found her road blocked with what she realized were runes. She cursed as she realized that they walked into a trap. "Why don't you stand and face us?! Afraid to fight girls?"

"I'm merely thinning the number of enemies down." was Freed's response. "You can't get out unless one of you beats the other..."

"What?!"

"So this is how you made everyone else fight." Juvia muttered.

"Preferably, I think Cana would be a better choice. After all who knows when you would turn on us, child of Phantom. You've been with that bunch for so long after all." Freed said.

Juvia clenched her fists "...So you promise that you'll face the winner like a man?"

"Naturally, I never break one of my rules."

The water mage let out a breath "No choice then."

* * *

Even when she was there, it was a surprise.

Instead of fighting like she and Freed thought she would, Juvia had solved their situation by transforming into her water body and ramming the lacrima with all her strength to shatter it. This resulted in Thunder Palace's organic link activating and shocking her.

"Juvia!" Cana cried as she ran to the water mage as she fell to the ground. "Why? What were you thinking?"

Cringing in pain, Juvia forced her eyes open and smiled weakly at Cana "Juvia wants everyone to accept her as a member of Fairy tail. Juvia loves Fairy tail and her friends there..."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" Cana snapped, surprising her. "You're acting like there was some question to that in the first place! You're a wonderful Fairy tail mage already!"

Juvia's smile grew wider at the news "...I'm glad..."

Freed and Cana watched her pass out then, the former still shocked about her actions. He'd truly believed that she would simply attack Cana but there seemed to be more to the woman than what he believed...

He heard Cana scream his name and saw the woman throw her cards in rage as tears fell down her face. A bolt of lightning threatened to crash on him then but Freed knew what to do.

"Dark Ecriture: Reflect!"

With a wave of his sword, Cana's magic was sent back at her, causing her to crash into the bridge.

* * *

Lucy struggled to avoid the numerous beams coming from Bickslow's puppets while the mage simply grinned at her. "Sorry, I can't hold back, cosplay queen!"

"Stop calling me that already! Do you honestly think you're getting away with this?!" The blond demanded.

"We're making sure that Laxus would become the Master. That's all that matters now!"

"Oh yeah? Gate of the Archer, I open thee! Saggitarius!"

The centaur celestial spirit appeared beside her, ready to fight. "You called? Moshi-moshi."

"Take those pests down!" Lucy pointed at the dolls.

"At once!" Saggitarius' arrows nailed them all down, getting a cheer from Lucy and Happy.

"No, my babies! How could you?" Bickslow wailed. He suddenly grinned "Psyche!"

Before anyone could react, Saggitarius was struck by three beams of light and he returns to the Celestial world to heal.

"No way..." Lucy stared in shock.

Happy's eyes widened at the new dolls flying over Bickslow "Hey, where'd those come?!"

"We're near a toy shop. You can't stop me getting new babies, in fact, I got all the ones I need at the ready!"

"Oh, great..." Lucy muttered.

* * *

Gajeel ended up running into Natsu and Hope near the plaza "Looks like Bunny girl's fighting Bickslow. Sure you don't want to go back her up?"

"It's fine. Lucy's tough, she can handle him." Natsu said, Hope agreed to the statement.

"You're kidding." He gave them a flat look.

"That aside now, you're coming to find Laxus-nii too, right?" Hope asked, at Gajeel's raised eye, he added. "He's at the Cathedral."

Natsu rolled his eyes when the dragon slayer didn't respond "I told you not to mind him. Let's go."

Gajeel watched them leave with a carefully blank expression.

"This seems a little more interesting than I thought."

"Yeah?" Gajeel glanced at the paper figure floating up beside him, the source of the voice.

"Hm, I was right. The prime model was the wild card in this, I can tell none of those four expected him to do anything that could help."

"Guess so." Gajeel said.

"Keep an eye out on him for me. That boy's...intriguing."

"Got it, Master." Gajeel replied. "I'll take care of Fairy tail once this is over."

"You do that."

* * *

Elfman and Mirajane arrived at the sight of Freed and Cana's battle, shocked to find the battered Juvia and Cana struggling to get up.

"Take back what you said about Juvia now!"

Freed responded by writing runes which appeared on her forehead. "Dark Ecriture: Pain!"

The runes lit up and Cana screamed, holding her head in pain until she fell.

"Cana!"

"Freed, you bastard! You're dealing with me next!" Elfman growled.

"I don't think so." The rune user retorted. "You lost to Evergreen already so you have no right to participate in the game."

"Stop calling it a game already!" A fed up Mira said, having gotten the girls away from the battle field. "How can you even say that? Friends are being forced to fight against each other here. Everyone's suffering because of Laxus, how can you agree to this?"

"This may be a lost concept to you lot but we're loyal to Laxus like no one else." Freed replied coolly.

"Why you...That's it," Elfman charged at the man with his fist at the ready.

Freed gave him a cold look. "The punishment for rule breakers is worse than death."

* * *

"Baryon Formation!"

"Lucy!" A wide eyed Happy cried out at the sight of the energy attack heading towards the blond.

"We're done here..."

A dark figure swooped in and took the girl away from the attack. Lucy's eyes widened when they landed on the opposite building "You're..."

"I wonder..." The figure mused. He wore a black suit and had messy ginger hair. "...why I'm the only one who can pass through the gate. Maybe our love broke the barrier."

Bickslow's eyes widened at the voice "Loke!"

"Whoa, that's what his spirit form looks like?" Happy said.

"I came in time, huh?" Loke said, letting his owner down.

"Y-yeah, thanks..."

"I knew your secret, Leo the leader of the Zodiac." Bickslow stated, gathering their attention to him. "And you're still going to bare your fangs at me even when I helped you keep it?"

"I don't care about that." Loke replied. "One thing's for sure though, hurting Lucy is something I cannot forgive!"

Bickslow laughed "And what can you do about that? If you remember you never once beat me and I was holding back then."

"Yeah, well that's about to change." He responded. "Lucy stand back..."

"What are you talking about?" The blond stepped up next to him, grabbing her whip. "Spirits aren't my shield to hide behind, I fight alongside them. That's my style!"

This elicited a smile from him. "All right then, I'll give you an opening. You go after Bickslow."

"Now that sounds like a plan!"

* * *

"Dark Ecriture: Death!"

Mirajane watched in wide-eyed horror as Freed made to attack again. Elfman was exhausted and he couldn't fight anymore. She knew that. But what could she do? There had to be something...Her guild mates fought to protect the guild before too and she cursed her powerlessness back then as well. If she didn't do something, then Elfman would...

The thought made her remember Lisanna's death when Elfman lost control of his power. That was what did it.

Freed started as a scream reached his ears and turned around to face Mirajane, who was surrounded by a big magic circle. His eyes widened. It couldn't be...!

Unfortunately for him, his suspicions were soon proven true.

Mirajane the demon had returned.

* * *

Lucy, Happy and Loke had been doing somewhat well against Bickslow. And I say somewhat because the soul mage had picked his battlefield well, no matter how many of his dolls they destroyed, more were sure to come. It was slowly overwhelming them.

The second problem was his Figure eyes, the real reason they couldn't get close to him. One glance at them would turn them into Bickslow's puppets so the best thing they could do then was close them, but that gave Bickslow better chances to strike them.

"Loke, I trust you to do something about this!" Lucy stated, dodging another attack after she failed to hit Bickslow with her whip but another one nailed her. She had yet to find the puppet that stole her keys so he was the only spirit she could count on. Yet she also had no doubt in the spirit's ability to help them out of this.

He smiled, seemingly understanding this. "I will!"

She groaned, getting Happy to pull her up after a beam from a puppet hit her. "Mou, why do the Raijinshuu have this kind of annoying magic?!"

"Yeah, I know it's a pain." Happy said sympathetically. "You're doing better than I thought you would. If only there was some way we can get an opening..."

The cat managed to fly masterfully away from any of Bickslow's attacks but he ended up getting grazed by a couple of beams from puppets flying above them, since he had to avoid the figure eyes too.

"Lucy, when I say so. Open your eyes and attack Bickslow!" Loke called out. His body was surrounded by light.

"You think I'll let you off easy? Babies! Baryon Formation!"

But Loke was ready before that "Lion Flare!"

Bickslow gasped at the brilliant light emerging from the spirit then and cried out in pain "My eyes!" He closed them, yelping, barely hearing Loke calling out to his owner.

Lucy knew that this was the moment she needed so she immediately attacked, trapping the soul mage with her whip. "Loke, now!"

"Yeah!" He charged up with his a light enhanced fist.

"You can't beat me!" Bickslow gasped, still unable to do much about his predicament.

"Maybe before I couldn't." Loke acknowledged. "...But meeting Lucy has brought back, no, enhanced my powers! I'm not like those pathetic dolls! Love gives a spirit power. Regulus impact!"

Happy and Lucy watched in awe as the fist struck, creating the fact of a lion as it did and sent Bickslow down and out. "You did it!"

"Thanks, Loke!"

The spirit smiled at his owner "Happy to help. Now would you take a look at this?" His hand glowed and he raised his hand in air and the words I Love Lucy appeared in colorful light. "This is the light of love!"

Happy grinned "He liiiiiiiiikes you!"

Lucy was about to respond but fell on her knees, alarming the two. "I'm fine, just tired..." She blinked when her keys were placed on her palm.

"I'll be there whenever you need me." Loke assured.

"...Thanks."

* * *

Freed thought he might have either overestimated himself or underestimated Mirajane, the battle was definitely not going in his favor.

As if it wasn't enough of a shock that the former model regained her powers, she proceeded to batter him with him barely having a chance to react. Nothing he did seemed to actually affect her and whatever she was hit with, she would shake off and go after him with a vengeance. As Mira's powerful Soul Extinction spell hit him, the Raijinshuu leader thought that she would kill him for sure.

Which is why he was shocked when his opponent stopped only a short distance from his face and transformed back.

"Don't you think this battle is meaningless? We're all comrades in the same guild after all."

"You're still on that?!" He demanded. "And why won't you kill me? Do you pity me or something?"

Mira shook her head. "Like I said we're all in the same guild, we smile and laugh together."

"Don't be ridiculous! I have only one ally: Laxus Dreyar!"

"Don't lie to yourself. You've already realized it. It isn't bad to connect to one person but you're neglecting to see how everyone else is connected around you." Mirajane noticed the thoughtful look on his face and she could see the realization sinking in.

Her suspicion was proven true when Freed tearfully stated that he didn't want any of this. Mira simply smiled and took his hand. They were allies and she would extend the olive branch now.

"I know. Say, why don't we enjoy the Harvest Festival next year?"

* * *

Laxus closed his eyes at the sound of footsteps, having an idea who this might be. He was this close to start gaining power over his grandfather, nothing would stop him now.

"Isn't it about time you stopped this foolishness?" Mystogan demanded. "If you stop Thunder Palace now, things will just pass as the festivities."

"Yo, glad you're here. Now we can get to decide who's the strongest."

Mystogan's eyes narrowed "You must be joking."

"Nope, not at all. You weren't here from the start but that's what this is all about." The blond stated calmly, standing up.

"...And you think it's just about the two of us? You're forgetting Erza."

"Who says I did? I just don't think she's up to scratch. Ready to do this?" Laxus could see that he was hesitating so he continued. "You would defend her, huh? Guess I can't say I'm surprised. You're another..." He stopped when Mystogan attacked and aptly dodged the spell.

"How do you know about that?"

"Hm, let's see...I might tell if you beat me."

* * *

_And that's it!_

_The epilogue is in the next chapter, man it feels like I'm on roll here!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Hiya!_

_Poppy flower of Stormclan, thanks a lot but I meant the arc's epilogue. There's no way I'm letting end like this._

_Today's my birthday, so I figure why not just show this chapter up too. It's been ready for a while anyway. I tried to fit the epilogue here but it was a little too much. Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

"Oi, looks like someone beat us there." Natsu said. He and Hope had been soon joined by Erza near the cathedral, only to be surprised by the flashes and bangs coming from there.

"It must be him. Let's go!" Erza said.

"Is that Mystogan?"

Taking note of how Mystogan had stiffened in surprise at the new arrivals, Laxus looked at them. "So you made it."

Before they could react, he struck Mystogan with a lightning spell which destroyed his mask.

The three's expressions were that of surprise. Natsu's soon turned into anger and Erza's into complete shock, Hope looked confused at their reactions.

"What are you doing here?!" The first snarled.

"Ho, a familiar face?" Laxus questioned with a raised eye, though there was no denying the amusement on his face.

'Do you know each other?' Endymion asked, just as confused as Hope.

"Yeah! He's..."

"J-Jellal?" Erza let out, stunned.

"Eh?! You mean that's..." Hope looked back at the mage, who was trying to avoid their gazes. "...Wait, that can't be right. Mystogan-san is actually..."

He stopped when the S-class mage shook his head "I'm not who you think I am. Erza, I hoped you wouldn't find out. I'm not Jellal but I know of him."

"What?! You're not making any sense!" Natsu snapped. His eyes widened as the man disappeared, stating that he'll leave Laxus to them.

Both boys' attention was on Mystogan so they were unprepared for Laxus attacking Erza, making her cry out in pain and fall to her knees.

"Erza!"

Hope began tending to her while Natsu attacked Laxus...

Erza ended up recovering quickly and donned her Lightning Empress armor to face Laxus. They continued to trade blows, but none decisive. Since Erza's armor was made to fight lightning mages and both fighters were simply too strong for it to end quickly.

"You know, I didn't think you'd waste time like this." Laxus commented idly as Erza jumped away after another clash.

"What do you mean by that?"

He seemed a little confused by the question until the answer hit him "Oh, I get it, you probably weren't around when I told Jiji. I set Thunder Palace around Magnolia."

'He can't be serious...' Endymion muttered.

"What's Thunder Palace?" Natsu tilted his head.

"Ask Chibi, by the look on his face I'd say he knows." Laxus remarked, bringing their attention to Hope.

The brunet clenched his fist, glaring at his sibling. It was rare for anyone to see him angry. "I know you want to be Master but you're willing to go that far? The people don't have anything to do with this!"

"We wouldn't have to go through all this if Jiji wasn't such a stubborn old mule." was all Laxus had to say to that.

Erza noted the anger in Hope's tone and knew that this was very, very bad. "What did he do?"

"...Thunder Palace is basically a bunch of thunder charged lacrima set around a place." He replied. "Depending on the time limit, they let loose all the thunder and destroy whichever target they have. In this case, Magnolia."

"What?!"

"You've gotta be kidding me! That's going too far!" Natsu exclaimed.

"...I guess in this case, he's just willing to pull out all the stops." Hope said.

"So this was Evergreen meant by coming prepared..." Erza glowered at Laxus, enraged by his cavalier dismissal of the lives of innocents. "All right in that case Hope, Endymion, you two stop that and leave Laxus to us."

"Right," Hope made to leave.

Something that seemed similar to Freed's runes flashed and hit Hope the moment he neared the door, knocking him back into one of the chairs.

'Hope!'

"What the heck was that?" Natsu demanded.

Laxus started laughing then "You idiots thought I'd let that happen? Chibi might have ruined part of my plans but I'd never allow the same thing to happen twice. Freed's new rune pretty much seals a person. They'd try to fight it and it hurts but that's all they can do, struggle pointlessly. The victim can't even gather magic or hardly move, so Chibi's a sitting duck now."

"You bastard!" Natsu and Erza attacked him, the second managing to send him back a bit by striking his gut with her spear. It was obviously true, Hope's expression was creased in pain and he couldn't seem to move one bit. The templar groaned, blaming himself for rushing into things, if he hadn't, they might have noticed something up with this.

Despite this, Laxus remained unfazed. "It doesn't make much of a difference anyway. Chibi and Natsu are dead weights and they could never get a good hit on me, Erza could but I doubt she'd give me much trouble."

"What?!" The dragon slayer snarled.

Laxus proceeded to let out a powerful lightning blast, which headed towards the two at first but was blocked off by a large iron cube that was thrown in the way. "What the...?!" He looked at the door. "You!"

"Gajeel?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Guess I made it in good time. What the heck are you still doing here, Titania? Unless Bird boy deals with that seal, he can't stop Thunder Palace, meaning you'll have to."

"I hate to admit it, but he's right." Natsu said. That spar really had done good. They weren't exactly all that friendly but they did come to respect each others' strength. "Just go, we'll be in big trouble if that thing goes off and he knows it. Leave this to us."

Erza frowned but she had no choice but to comply. "...All right, I'm counting on you."

Laxus tried to stop her but growled when failed when Natsu intercepted him. "Why you..."

"We're your opponents." Gajeel reminded calmly. "Though the thought of working with Salamander is a bit hard to swallow, there's no choice."

"Right back at you." Natsu said, his fist flaming up. "Let's do this."

* * *

Erza ran to the plaza and began to summon swords to take out all the lacrima in one shot as that was all the time they had left would allow. She would not fail the others. She would protect Fairy tail and Magnolia.

"Iron Dragon's Club!"

Laxus dodged the attack and nailed Gajeel with a kick to the chest before proceeding to throw the attacking Natsu away.

"Do you honestly think you can stop me? And before Thunder Palace activates too? Get real!"

"No, you get real!" Natsu shot back. "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

He was sent crashing down by one of Laxus' lightning spells before the lightning mage punched Gajeel with enough force to send him beside the fire mage. "Pathetic! I'll show you the difference between us! _Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder! Plunge from the heavens and reap destruction! Raging bolt!"_

The dragon slayers' eyes widened at the huge lightning bolt coming at them...

* * *

"Give me the power to protect everyone, blades. Everyone in Fairy tail, lend me your power!"

Lucy, Happy and Gray stopped as they heard Erza's plea. "Lucy you heard that too?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, it was Erza, right?"

"Gotta say it isn't like you to ask for help." Gray stood. "All right, I know what to do. Let's get to work!"

Back on the battlefield...

Something flashed and a silver arrow shot out in front of Natsu and Gajeel. It let out rays of light that made the Raging Bolt dissipate.

"What the..." Gajeel blurted, more confused than anything.

Natsu grinned "That's Zero Ray!"

Laxus growled as the arrow faded, revealing Endymion in all his glory staring him down. "You two destroyed the trap?! But that's impossible! Chibi should have at least fainted by now."

'He didn't.' The phoenix's voice was cold. 'I thought this mess taught you to stop underestimating my friend by now.'

In truth, Endymion hadn't had to do anything other than take control once Hope managed to destroy the seal on him. He was ready to fight and show this fool of an S-class mage why not to mess with his friends.

Gajeel smirked _'So, it's just like I heard. The prime model shares his body with another soul.'_

"Knew you guys would pull through!" Natsu declared.

Endymion inclined his head in thanks at the teen's faith in them "I'm glad we didn't disappoint. Ready to settle this?"

"You need to ask?"

Endymion took flight, letting out a cry that surprised the lightning mage and made him cringe at the volume before causing a ray of light that hit his shoulder. If his attention wasn't so concentrated on the phoenix, he would've realized that Natsu and Gajeel had hitched a ride on Endymion's back from the start and had chosen to jump of when the phoenix's attack hit.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"

"Iron Dragon's Lance!"

Laxus cried out as he took their attacks. Natsu grinned cockily "What was that you said about not getting a good hit on you?"

The lightning mage growled in response and fired a powerful lightning attack at Endymion, who was surrounded by a flash of light that momentarily blinded him. Two arrows shot up, one striking Laxus on the shoulder and the other, which was charged with Memoria magic, dissipating the lightning by reducing its time to before it was made, thus rendering it into magic particles.

"You see? 3-0 right there!" Natsu taunted.

Gajeel smirked as Hope joined them "Not bad at all, Bird boy. I'll give credit where its due."

Hope simply smiled at him before proceeding to create and fire four light blasts. They shot up in a semi-circle, two striking Laxus and two destroyed by his electricity.

"Can't you freeze him or something?" Natsu suggested.

"I would if I could. To break free, he'd have to fight it with his magic power and he's obviously got plenty of spare so it's a waste of time."

"Got that right!" Laxus cackled, attacking again. He nailed Natsu with a punch and threw him into Gajeel before throwing a lightning bolt at Hope, who managed to reduce it to harmless magic particles again before shooting a Star Gladius at Laxus. But the blond quickly dodged it and grabbed the boy's neck with a vice like grip, forcing him to the wall. He then proceeded to electrify him, grinning as he heard the pained cry from that.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu's strike managed to force the lightning mage to release him. The brunet rolled off the ground and to his feet. "You all right?" At the nod he received. "Good, let's keep this going."

Meanwhile Gajeel had attempted to hit him with a iron pole only to receive a lightning blast as a result. Natsu charged to stop him with a Crushing Fang, his speed enhanced with Hope's memoria spell, Accel Force. The velocity helped hit Laxus hard on the side, forcing him back. "Rocket Accel!"

Hope fired a shining bullet which Natsu proceeded to hurl a fire ball at, surrounding it in flames as it shot towards its target. The bullet failed to strike the intended point but it did manage to burn Laxus when the flames dispersed. The brunet returned the favor when Natsu cast Fire Dragon's Dazzling Flame, imbuing the spell with light and powering it up with Accel Force once more. "Shining Dragon Blaze!"

The two dodged Laxus' following lightning spell and surprised him by directly attacking. Laxus responded by surrounding himself with electricity to push them back but Hope foiled that idea by hitting the barrier with a Zero Ray, Natsu then cast Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang while Hope surrounded his sword with light magic, making it glow a bright gold. Still keeping the spell, the fire mage then pushed Laxus back with a wave of fire before he and Hope and attack with the brunet unleashing a combo of magically enhanced strikes that stunned their opponent before Natsu kicked Laxus on the chest and he and Hope attacked again. "Disaster Fang!"

Even Gajeel had to admit that he was impressed by their teamwork. If it was a weaker mage they would have lost already from those combinations. It was starting to have a good effect on Laxus. "Well, I can't just watch...Iron Dragon's Club!"

Along with the flames forcing him back, the club ended up momentarily stunning Laxus and Gajeel hit him with a flurry of punches before jumping back.

"Now, Salamander use your breath!"

"Fire Dragon's..."

"Iron Dragon's..."

"Roar!" The two let their roars which combined into a tornado and headed towards Laxus.

Hope quickly let Endymion take over. The phoenix's eyes narrowed 'Nova blast!' He let out a powerful energy beam that went to combine with the tornado. To ensure that this would work, Hope transformed back and cast Accel Force once more to ensure that the attack would hit the mark.

"It worked!" Natsu cheered.

"That all you got? I'm surprised you call yourselves dragon slayers." Laxus stepped out of the smoke the combination had caused.

"No way..."

"But then again, I figured it wouldn't be hard to deal with Natsu I can't expect much from the guild's charity case." Natsu growled at this and Gajeel raised an eye, seeing that Laxus was watching Hope. Even though he couldn't see him, the iron dragon slayer had a feeling that Endymion was glaring at the blond too.

"What did you just say?!"

"You heard me. You of all people know why that's true." Laxus stated. "Jiji was off his rocker for sure, inviting a weakling like that. A coward who can't even do anything about it and for all intents and purposes should have been dead since nearly everyone thinks he's dead or in prison for all I care."

"Say that again, I dare you!" Natsu snarled.

"Natsu, don't." Hope said, he was already aware of how Laxus felt about him so this didn't really come as a surprise. He found, to his surprise, that it did sting a little...but it wasn't the time to think of this. He'd already been told by Cana to take Laxus' opinion with a grain of salt. Something he'd be more than happy to do now.

"But..."

"He's trying to work us up and make things that much easier for him. We don't have time for that."

Laxus simply smirked "Smart, aren't you? Well, if everyone finds out what I mean then you'll just be gaining their pity...which is probably what happened with Jiji. That's the reason you were trying so hard to act like a good guy, isn't that right, White Paladin?"

_'Yeah, I'm definitely missing something here.'_ Gajeel thought to himself. Act like a good guy? He briefly wondered if Laxus was high on something. When he realized that Makarov had invited him, the boy had been the first to welcome Gajeel to the guild and he even tried to show him around along with Juvia. While he was grateful for the gestures (though he would never say it and he'd beat you up for doing so) he had refused. Gajeel knew he wasn't exactly friendly, Hope remained polite and courteous to him as he was to their guild mates. In fact, Hope didn't look like he had a mean bone in his body. He didn't think anybody could be that good of an actor. _'If anything, Bird boy's too honest for his own good...'_

"What the hell are you getting at?" asked Natsu.

"I'm saying trash like him isn't welcome in my Fairy tail!" answered Laxus.

"...Are you done yet?" Hope demanded. Gajeel inwardly applauded the boy for not caring about the blond's words and not losing his cool. "Does it look like I actually care about what you think of me? You really don't get it do you? I wouldn't want to be in the Fairy tail you have in mind anyway."

Natsu seemed relieved by the boy's response and he added "Yeah, me too! What's so wrong about the guild in your eyes? Why do you think it has to change?"

"Don't you three see it?" Laxus asked back, recalling the times he heard their guild was ridiculed. "We're being laughed it in many places. The other day when I came back, it was from trashing a dark guild who considered us a mockery! The guild's a joke with Jiji and I won't allow that! I'll become the master."

"How?" He blinked at Hope's question. "Fairy tail's a circle of friends that battles together and stays together. We're practically family. But you never understood that."

"Exactly, So what if you're Master's grandson? How's someone like you, who never tried to be a part of the guild becoming a master?" Natsu added.

"I'll tell you how." Laxus replied, his magic flaring up around him. "By force!"

Hope was starting to get a good idea on what he was doing. "...Guys..." Natsu and Gajeel looked at him. "...I didn't want to say this because Grandpa asked me to keep it a secret but Laxus-nii, he's a dragon slayer."

"Say what?!"

* * *

Gray continued running around town, looking for Warren. He knew he had to get everyone's help to take of Thunder Palace. He glimpsed a sword flying up and knew that it was Erza instantly.

_'Gotta hurry!'_

* * *

"Oi, you're kidding right?"

Hope remembered the time he'd been sent up to Makarov's office by Erza to give him the money they'd collected on a job together to make up for the damages the council billed him for.

He overhead Makarov mentioning something about a lacrima and how it was affecting him, it couldn't have been easy since it gave him the abilities of a dragon slayer. Laxus simply brushed him off and left, not willing to hear more.

**"All right, you come in now." **

**Hope stiffened at Makarov's words but obeyed. "I'm sorry...we thought you'd want to..."**

**"Ah, don't worry about it, kiddo. Just keep it a secret okay? This wasn't exactly by Laxus' choice."**

**Hope knew there was to more to that but nodded. It wasn't his business anyway...**

"So you were the one who overheard us." Laxus acknowledged when the brunet finished explaining this. "I wondered about that. Not that it matters now. Lightning Dragon's..." Hope's eyes widened and he stepped in front of Natsu and Gajeel, putting up a shield of light. "...Roar!"

A beam of intense electricity shot towards the three then, causing a smoke screen as it struck. Laxus' triumphant expression disappeared as the smoke faded away.

"What the?!" He could see them all on the ground, struggling to get up. He saw a silver and gold light on Hope's palms and suddenly understood. Hope had cast a White Shield with his right hand and Zero Ray with his left, hoping to lessen the impact of the spell, and possibly reflect some of it at least. Judging by the way Hope was holding on to his left arm, the Zero Ray had been destroyed quickly and painfully, which only left the other spell to work.

"Dammit, my body..." Natsu groaned.

Gajeel leaned on one of the pillars and pulled himself up. Things really would have been much worse had it not been for Hope's quick thinking. "Don't complain, you idiot. We're numb too. It could have been worse. You're good with those spells, Bird boy."

"Th-thanks." Hope managed as he stood.

"Any chance you could destroy the Thunder Palace?" Gajeel idly noted that the boy was trying to take care of their wounds but how did he still conserve power for this?

Hope shook his head. "That rune Freed-san set up caused another effect, it's blocking Endymion's enhanced sight. Zero Ray won't work if I can't see my target."

"No need to worry. Erza's got it covered." Natsu assured, Hope had the best chances of stopping Thunder Palace but he had no doubt that Erza could do it too.

'Hope, Natsu, Gajeel, watch out!' Endymion's voice startled them. 'Laxus is...'

"Erza, Jiji, all the trash in the guild and the four of you..." Laxus began, surrounded with magic power. "I'll destroy you all!"

Natsu vaguely realized that the light reminded him of Makarov. But why'd the spell seem familiar?

Endymion helped him along '...This is Fairy law.'

Hope tried to freeze him but he was repelled by the force from Laxus' magic. Gajeel growled "The spell that took out Master Jose? Not good..."

"Stop it, Laxus!"

The four whirled around at the voice and found Levy at the door, to their bewilderment.

"You idiot, what're you doing here?!" Gajeel asked.

"Master Makarov is..." Levy's eyes were tearful as she spoke. "...Your grandfather is dying!"

"Gramps? He's dying?"

"What did you say?"

"No..."

"So please come and see him!" Levy started when Laxus burst out laughing.

"This is perfect! Now there's nothing stopping from taking over!"

Gajeel's eyes narrowed, while a shocked Levy fell to her knees "Bastard..."

"Its time for the guild to disappear, I'll just build it up from scratch and ensure that it'll be the ultimate guild. Fairy Law is invoked!" Laxus slammed his palms together and watched gleefully as the light wave poured through the cathedral and into town...

* * *

"Come on, this isn't time to argue!" Gray and Warren were having bad luck with their guild mates as they were trying too bitter to work together. Max started things off by vowing to beat Warren for what he did and it just escalated from there. "You fight all the time, don't you? Why the hell can't you sort this out later?"

"Yeah, come on you guys! The situation's too big for petty grudges." Warren added.

_"Oh yeah..."_ The reply was cut off when they saw the wave of light. _"...Hey, isn't that..."_

* * *

"Yeah, but..."

Erza saw the wave as well and though she was confused as her guild mates, she knew she had to make use of all the time she could get and so worked on summoning more blades to strike...

* * *

Laxus was alerted to the fact that something was wrong by the coughing coming from around him.

Natsu stood, albeit a little shakily. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah..." A puzzled Levy said. "Hope? Gajeel?"

The former glanced at the latter, who nodded before answering that they were too. Gajeel looked confused. "I don't get it. So nothing happened?"

"No..." They looked at Laxus. "...Even after all this? Why did you all survive?!"

"Isn't it obvious, Laxus?" Freed joined Levy at the door. "Magic never lies. We all know Fairy Law takes out anyone the caster sees as an enemy. Everyone in Magnolia is all right so you obviously see us all as allies."

"You're lying! That can't be true!"

'...So magic revealed what actually lay deep in his heart.' Endymion mused.

But Laxus was still in denial "There's no way that's true! You're all my enemies because you keep getting in the way!"

"Stop this, Laxus. Just go and see Master Makarov." Freed advised.

"Yeah, Laxus-nii. Enough of this, let's just go back. The guild is everyone's, you know that too." Hope added.

"Shut up!" Laxus cried. "You're no brother of mine! None of you can tell me what to do."

Hope tried and failed to block his next attack when pain shot up his left arm. Natsu and Gajeel used their roars to deflect the blast from their guild mates.

"You two get back. We're not done beating sense into him yet." Natsu told Freed and Levy before the two dragon slayers moved to attack.

Hope would have joined them had he not happened to hear someone say _"Enough of this! Come on, we have to work together!"_

'...Gray? Is that you?'

_"Endymion?" The ice mage sounded surprised. "Where the heck are you guys?"_

"We're dealing with Laxus-nii. What happened?" Hope asked, he could see Levy and Freed becoming aware of their talk from their expressions.

Gray quickly told them about the situation and their guild mates' refusal to work together. Freed cringed, since they were the ones who caused this dissent among the guild.

This was soon confirmed when they heard everyone arguing over the idea of working together

_"Stop it!" They heard Lucy say. "Ever since I came here, I realized Fairy tail is different from what I heard. It's actually a lot better. You're all a family...you even let me in just like that...This is ridiculous. This is definitely not the time or place to dwell on any of what happened now. The town is in crisis. We can't let everyone get caught up in our mess. I think we should work together too. If you're too caught up in your grudges to see what's right in front of you than fine. I love this guild and I won't let anyone ruin it. If you're so determined to stick to your grudges, than fine! I'll destroy the lacrimas myself!"_

"You won't have to, Lucy." Hope spoke up, he could tell her words had surprised them all. "Everyone I know things have been hard lately, and Laxus-nii's game definitely caused plenty of damage to go around. But you can all stick through it. We made it this far, the guild's strong because of its members. I'm not sure what you want to do but I still think we can come out on top. Please, don't let this ruin the bonds you have with one another. You'll only regret it later and there's nothing worse than regret. We can come back even stronger." He let out a breath. "Gray, Warren-san, Lucy, whatever you plan to do, you can count on my help."

'Mine as well.' Endymion said.

_"Same here! If you're all so stubborn as to ignore those words then we don't need you. We'll take care of this on our own!" Happy chipped in._

"Mine too!" Levy said immediately, hearing agreement.

_The silence was broken by Macao's chuckle "Come on, guys, are you really going to let the kids do this on their own?"_

_"Heh, yeah, we're acting pretty pathetic now." Wakaba said._

_"There's no way I can turn down a request like this." Alzack said next. _

_"As well you shouldn't." Bisca commented._

_"Same here." Jet agreed.  
_

_"It's about time..." Cana sighed._

This was followed by similar agreements from the rest of the listeners, making Hope, Levy, Happy and Lucy smile.

Levy got them started on the plan "Guys, Hope and Endymion can't see the lacrimas from here with the runes messing up their vision and we don't have time to cancel them. Meaning he can't destroy them. That's up to us."

'But we can do something about the organic link magic.' Endymion remarked.

"Yeah, I've got something planned to destroy it then. Warren-san, can you give me a signal when the link activates?" Hope asked.

_"You got it, Hope!"_

_Gray grinned "All right, let's get started. We'll prove your idiot for a brother wrong once and for all!"_

_"Yeah!" was the general consensus.  
_

Hope's smile grew at this, relieved that everyone was working together, he went to join Natsu and Gajeel.

Levy turned, knowing that everyone was getting started on the attacks. "Let's see if this will work, Solid Script: Storm!"

A green block of words appeared in front of her and they shot out a storm. "We've got to do all we can too!" Levy maneuvered it so that the storm hit the ground, picking up some rocks before shooting to the sky.

"Yeah." Freed agreed, surprising her. He'd felt guilty enough. It was time to help sort the mess they started. He was only quiet during the conversation because he knew how they'd take his presence. Not that he would blame them, he thought, drawing his sword.

"Darkness Ecriture..."

* * *

Natsu and Gajeel hit Laxus again, but they were a little shocked by the electricity around him as a result. Gajeel noted with satisfaction that they were wearing him down significantly compared to before.

"Dammit...my body was numb enough already."

"Fire Dragon's roar!" Natsu cried, letting out his breath to push off another Raging bolt back. "...Phew, that worked..."

The three dragon slayers had gotten on the cathedral's roof during the fight, which was still going strong. Gajeel kicked Laxus in the stomach and was grazed with an electrified fist. "Okay, this guy's getting on my nerves!"

They were confused when Laxus sent a lightning bolt down through the whole in the ceiling, that was cleared the moment the bolt was blocked by a white shield and Endymion emerged, landing next to them.

"What happened to you back there?" Natsu asked when Hope ran to them.

"I'll tell you later."

"You're all getting on my nerves!" Laxus roared, sending out a torrent of lightning bolts towards them.

They managed to dodge some and Gajeel noted that Hope had done the same earlier to the ones he couldn't avoid, a combination of what looked like a weaker version of Guardian Field and Zero Ray. Why? Wasn't one enough? This attack wasn't as strong as the roar...

"Just die already!" Laxus exclaimed.

"Demon logs!"

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

"Cross Drive!"

"Open your eyes! Just go and see Gramps!" Natsu said.

"Shut up! You think I care about him? I'm Laxus, not some grandson of his!"

"And people keep calling me stupid? How the heck does that make you any different from us?" Natsu asked irritably. None of them got along with Laxus but he wished the lightning mage would listen to them if at least for Makarov's sake.

Hope was thinking along similar lines "When it comes to family, it isn't just about the blood you share. Your relationship...the family's bonds is just as important. Being blood relatives doesn't set you apart from us. Grandpa was worried about you! He wasn't even sure why you're doing this. He just wanted you to be happy!"

"Talk about burying your head in the sand. Frankly, I never liked you and we both know why. But for reasons that are totally beyond me, those two consider you a guild mate so they don't want this. And you're obviously lost, this is just you throwing a temper tantrum!" Gajeel said, smacking the dragon slayer with his club when he finished.

'Agreed, enough of this.' Endymion said, and this time Laxus heard his voice too. 'You've caused enough damage as it were. Don't do anything else you'll regret.'

"Regret?! Don't make me laugh, you stupid bird! It's just like I told Freed. I'll only regret this if I fail!" Laxus cried, dodging Natsu's punch and throwing the dragon slayer away. "Now then, I'll wipe you all out with this! Dragon Slayer Secret technique: Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

Levy and Freed gasped in horror at the massive lightning spell that appeared then, unable to do anything to help.

Natsu's eyes widened when Hope and Gajeel stepped in. The first cast a surprisingly large barrier that blocked the spell. The iron dragon slayer created a number of iron spears and threw them. This effectively formed lightning rods that took the refracted spell in.

Hope then heard Warren call out to him. He immediately cast Zero Ray on a bullet and shot it up, gathering enough energy to use Accel Force too. Gajeel growled when the lightning destroyed the spears, realizing that they'd only somewhat weakened it as the spell resumed its course, stepping in to take the blast. They'd apparently underestimated the spell's power and so were sent flying back. Hope was nearly thrown off the building as a result.

"I've got him, Salamander!" Gajeel said, grabbing the boy's hand and beginning to pull him up, ignoring his own pain."Get going!"

"Yeah!" Natsu charged once more.

"So it was true..." Freed muttered. "...Skilled templars can use Zero ray to absorb the magic particles and power themselves up."

Levy's eyes widened "So that's why..."

Gajeel had come to the same conclusion and grinned _'...Dammit, Bird boy...you're starting to make me look bad.'_

The bullet Hope had sent was met with the lightning of the organic magic link coming from a magic circle in the sky. But with all the magic Hope poured into it, the weapon shot through and destroyed it. Hope smiled when he saw this as Gajeel brought him back to the roof.

"You get it now? This our, no, _Fairy tail's _power!" Natsu exclaimed.

"You won't beat me!" Their opponent bellowed.

"Beg to differ! Fire Dragon..." Natsu began gathering his power. "...Iron fist! Claw! Flame Elbow!" Then a kick. "Crushing fang!" He jumped back to use the next one "Brilliant Flame!" He came in close again for a headbutt "Sword Horn!" Then "Wing Attack!"

"Now to end this. Dragon Slayer Secret Technique: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"

The massive new fire spell was what marked Laxus' defeat and ended the Battle of Fairy tail.

* * *

_Well, how about that? The arc's ending and Fantasia up next! _

_I'm actually kinda pleased about this chapter. I'd love it if my readers could tell me what they think._


	17. Chapter 17

_Hi!_

_hey-im-a-nerd: Thank you so much! Don't call it rambling, you review really made my day! I'm glad you think so. That might be because I'm working on a novel and so I proof read all my chapters a lot. I'm glad you like the subplot. I'm definitely keeping this up. _

_Quick question, what did you mean by the female dragon slayer template thing? Because I don't think I've seen it_

_Poppyflower of Stormclan: Thanks. Happy you like it. About the dialogue, I don't really think on it...it really depends on the idea I'm working on but no problemo, I'll see what I can do. Haha, Of course it isn't. So glad you're enjoying the story and he is pretty likeable, isn't he? I'm kinda surprised myself.  
Oh and I wasn't laughing at you or anything. It's just that the reviews I'm starting to get are cheering me up and motivating me to keep writing and improving._

* * *

"Thank you so much for this." Mira bowed to a woman in a red dress with pink hair. This was Porlyusica. A reclusive healer who lived in the forest but was an old friend of their Master. She had come to tend to Makarov because of his heart attack.

The woman just nodded "I told your friend but Makarov will be all right. He put up with you brats for this long after all."

The former model smiled at her, far too used to the woman's behavior as it were. The cheers coming from outside told her that Erza had informed their guild mates of this. "Are you going to stay for Fantasia?"

"I'd rather not. I'm not too fond of crowds." She left, idly wondering how in the world the people of Magnolia remained unaware of the events of the guild's battle.

Well, she supposed it didn't really matter.

* * *

"So, we're really going to do Fantasia even after all this?" Lucy asked.

"Gray-sama says it's precisely because this happened that we need to. Master wants that too." Juvia replied.

"You sure seem excited." She noted idly.

"Juvia can't wait! Juvia's role in the parade is wonderful!"

"I'm sure it is..."

Gray and Hope were sitting on the couch behind the girls with Mira and Levy, talking about the recent events. The ice mage sighed when he saw Juvia glaring at the girls, deciding to do something Levy advised him to do a while back. "Look, if you want to join us, come on. It's better than doing that. It's getting old."

He was surprised that it wielded better results than he thought, proven by Juvia sitting next to him with a wide smile. Unbeknownst to them, Juvia's imagination was on hyper drive as she considered what this could lead to.

_(AN: Believe me, for Gray's sake, somethings were better left unsaid..._)

"It's great that you got your powers back, Mira. A bit of a surprise though." Levy commented.

"You're telling me." Mirajane responded. "I just went along with things but I'll be able to help out more when needed now."

"Say, Hope," the boy looked at Gray. "I've been wondering about this for a while but how come you know what Mystogan looks like? He keeps putting us all to sleep when he comes to take a job."

At this, the girls exchanged a look of surprise and turned to the templar.

"It's because of this." Hope lifted the pendant. "I'm not sure why but it made some sort of shield the last time he came. Even Mystogan-san looked surprised..."

"That again, huh? Somehow this doesn't surprise me..."

"That pendant just keeps getting more mysterious, doesn't it?" Mira mused, tilting her head.

'Well, it doesn't help that Hope doesn't have the slightest idea how he came to have it.' Endymion commented.

She blinked "Really? You don't?"

The brunet replied in the affirmative, thinking back to what the bandits said. What did they mean by Oracle? He still didn't know and he had a suspicion that there might have a sort of misunderstanding. "I keep trying to but nothing comes to mind. I'm fairly sure I've had it before meeting Endymion though."

Levy already knew this from a mission she'd gone on with him before, as did Gray, since he had gone with them. "So, those shards actually have some unique powers?"

"I think so. This is what actually destroyed the runes...Endymion says I made it do that but I'm not sure of that..."

Juvia looked confused "Wait, wouldn't Master know about this?"

Hope shook his head "I've had it a long time before I came to the guild. Well, to be honest my memory's really hazy. There's a bunch of different parts I can't remember."

"Eh? Then you have amnesia, Hope-san?"

"I guess if you can call it that."

"I still don't get how you lived with that for so long." Mira said, admitting something that had been on her mind for a while. "I'd be incredibly curious if it was me."

"I don't see the point." was Hope's response. "I'm happy with my life and far as I'm concerned, my family's right here. I don't want to worry about something I can't control if I can help it and I've got what I need. To be honest, the pendant's the only reason I'd like to remember. It feels important..."

"It must be. You've been taking such good care of it for so long." Levy commented, feeling just as relieved as Mira at the boy's words. That was a good way of looking at it.

"Ahh, no matter which way you look at it this is confusing..." Gray said with a sigh.

Juvia nodded in agreement, looking closely at the pendant. "Juvia wondered but how are we going to do Fantasia with everyone so injured?"

"Oh, it's simple." Mira replied to her surprise. "Everyone who isn't too injured to participate is going to play a part."

'Now that's tenacity.' Endymion commented.

"One of the guild's best qualities, right?" Levy beamed.

'Right.'

* * *

Gajeel happened to overhear Endymion's comment about tenacity and privately, he couldn't agree more. He'd honestly thought they wouldn't even want to go ahead with the plan.

"Say, Gajeel?" He glanced at Happy. "Are you going to be in the parade?"

"What do you think, short stuff?"

That seemed to be answer enough for the cat, who shrugged "Well, I can't imagine what you'd perform not to mention Natsu still looks like he wants to go."

"You're kidding, right? He almost looks like a mummy and he can't even talk. What the hell is he going to do?"

"Let's just say common sense may not apply to Natsu sometimes."

He snorted "I hear that."

It was true, Gajeel was moderately injured after the Battle of Fairy tail with bandages covering a majority of his body, but Natsu was even worse off. His arm was broken and from the looks of the bandages on his mouth, the damage there still needed to heal.

Hope was the closest thing to a healer they had besides Porlyusica. The spell he uses to reverse a body's inner clock, Athena's Veil, had two limitations. One, how much the spell's target could handle the spell. Two, how much magic the user would expel before becoming exhausted since the extent of the spell's power was proportional to the magic used in it. Another reason why it was a unanimous agreement between the guild not to let him try anything, mainly because Porlyusica declared that the boy had suffered quite the internal damage so he had to take it easy for any chance to heal the right way and possibly participate in Fantasia.

"Would you put on your clothes already, Gray?" Cana demanded.

"Ah, crap! Sorry!"

"Juvia doesn't mind!"

Lucy sweatdropped at the sight of the starry eyed water mage, feeling a little sorry for Gray. "You think there's any chance we can find some way to make sure his clothes stay on?"

"Nope." Bisca answered flatly, looking a little annoyed. "See, watching Gray taught me that there are somethings even magic can't fix."

"I hear you loud and clear."

* * *

"Good grief."

Irritated mumbling.

"I don't want to hear that from you."

More of the same mumbling.

"Yeah, you thinking definitely isn't good. Mainly for the people around you."

The irritated mumbling rose sharply.

"Oh, lay off!"

Erza sweatdropped, looking a little impressed and confused at the same time. Natsu and Gajeel were sitting next to each other, with the first mumbling incomprehensible things.

Well, incomprehensible to everyone but Gajeel.

"You...understand that?"

"Unfortunately." The iron dragon slayer grunted back. "He's annoying."

"That's Flame Brain for you," Gray commented, walking past and so missing the angry look from the fire mage, who would have done more than just glare were it not his injuries.

Natsu blinked when he saw his teammate and rival stop walking. Following his line of sight, he knew why.

Laxus was here.

* * *

"What are you doing here?"

"Just leave already!"

"You came to screw us over even more, huh?!"

Laxus ignored the sneers, glares and talk from his guild mates, who were angry at him (_And rightfully so, might I add._). Some looked more than a little scared while the rest were giving him looks that ranged from neutral to wary. Not that he expected anything else.

The lightning dragon slayer stopped in front of Erza "I'm here to see Jiji."

Of course, the rest didn't take this so quietly.

"What?!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Erza, don't!"

"That's enough!" She snapped, silencing anymore protests. "He's in the infirmary."

Laxus nodded and made to leave, only to be surprised when Natsu stepped into his way.

"Natsu..."

He raised an eye when the teen muttered somethings he couldn't understand. Gajeel looked at him "Salamander's saying he wants to fight you for real next time. Just the two of you." Laxus' eyes widened and the three looked back at Natsu as the fire mage went into more mumblings. "Three...sorry, four on one wasn't fair. He thinks he won't lose next time."

Gajeel raised an eye as he listened some more, seeming confused "What do you mean?" Natsu looked a little annoyed and spoke again. Erza gave him a curious look watching him jab a finger of his unbroken arm at Laxus. Gajeel shrugged "Sure, why not?"

Erza was surprised when Gajeel punched Laxus in the gut, making him double over for a moment. The iron dragon slayer quickly explained why this happened "Aside from the fact that I think you deserve more, Salamander won't get off my case if I don't do this now. He says this is from him and some big guy, apparently. He'd do it himself but his hands are messed up and he says you know what he means."

Laxus simply smiled, apparently understanding that perfectly "Yeah, I do." He made to walk past Natsu and muttered something that only could he could hear. "Just keep looking out for him."

But Natsu wasn't finished, he tried to get into Laxus' way again and continue the challenge. But the S-class mage simply waved his hand and continued walking to the infirmary.

Natsu grinned, understanding that this meant Laxus agreed to the fight. Erza looked surprised and impressed.

* * *

"Noisy as ever, aren't they?"

Makarov's eyes narrowed at his grandson. "...Do you understand what you've done, Laxus?" He stood. "This was never going to work. Why? Because you can never own a guild. I may be the Master but I'm just administrating things. Guilds are a place where friends gather, where those have no home can go. A guild is the good will and confidence of each member, born from the bonds the members share. You trampled on that. That is not something that can be forgiven."

"I know." Was the response. He'd come understand that his plan was doomed to failure. The reason behind that plan was simple though. "I...only wanted to make the guild stronger."

Makarov sighed "You're just so uptight...awkward in fact. Why don't you relax? You might see things you missed before...hear things you missed. I know some people who learned to see things from different angles and not just think they were always the right ones. One of them took a big risk...more than one in fact, before we met...So brave and kindhearted, in fact, unfortunately he doesn't see his own worth..." He shook his head of those thoughts and continued, though Laxus had a good guess on that person's identity. Just that thought told him that Makarov was completely right there. "...Life is more fun! Raising you was like a new lease on life for me. You didn't need to be smart or powerful. Just happy and healthy. That's all I wanted for you."

He turned his back to the blond "Laxus, you are expelled!"

"Yeah, sorry for the trouble. Take care of yourself, Jiji." He headed for the door.

"Just go!" Makarov ordered. If he hadn't turned his back, Laxus would have seen the tears on his face and saw just how hard this was for him...

The blond let out a breath he didn't know he was holding once he exited the room. Only one last stop before he left...

* * *

"So you think that will work?"

'If we play our parts right.'

Endymion watched his host sit on a small room at the tower of the guild HQ. They'd only found this spot by accident but it had a great view of the city and in the current cool climate, was a great place to relax. They talked for a bit afterwards, but Hope soon was lost in thought, the Battle of Fairy Tail affected him badly for a reason neither he nor Endymion wanted to talk about. Hope seemed particularly upset by something and Endymion wondered if he had regained a memory.

'...What are you doing here?' Endymion's question snapped him out of his thoughts and brought his attention to the newly arrived

"Laxus-nii?"

"Don't look at me like that, Chibi." The blond responded, surprised at the manner of address he still kept. It might have been a force of habit for all he knew. "I figured I had to say a couple of things before leaving." At Hope's quizzical look, he added. "Jiji excommunicated me."

"I see you're not surprised." Laxus noted, he idly noted that the brunet's expression was concerned among other things. _'Nah, that can't be right.'_

"...I thought Grandpa might do that. It looked like he was gearing himself up for something before."

"That so?" Laxus glanced at the view before turning back to him.

'So what do you exactly want?' Endymion asked coolly. He thought Hope could be too nice for his own good too but he wasn't prepared to let the dragon slayer off so easily.

"Hey, Endymion..."

'Don't.' The phoenix's tone was firm and unyielding. He wasn't exactly surprised, he knew Hope was just curious to hear what Laxus wanted to say but he couldn't help but worry. There was his own bitterness towards the lightning mage who had kept treating them badly. And don't even get Endymion started on the mess Laxus put them and their friends through. Normally he was all up for giving people second chances but not this time and certainly not so soon.

"Well, at least now I know one of you is as careful as they should be." Laxus commented. He had a feeling Endymion was glaring at him for a moment there. (He was right) "And don't worry, old bird. I'll be out of here soon."

Hope glanced at Laxus and looked down, Endymion noted with a little bit of relief that he was a little wary around the lightning mage. Not that he wanted to be, he just couldn't help it.

Laxus spoke then, glancing ahead. "No wonder that noisy lot believes in you. You're on the right track, working hard to help out others. And it's just like you said, I never tried to get into this family."

"...You said something about you not wanting to be Grandpa's grandson. Why?" Hope asked, that was the one thing he couldn't understand from the battle they had.

Laxus was surprised by the question but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to answer that. "Well, it was pretty irritating...everything I did, no matter how hard I worked...they all chalked it up to being Jiji's grandson. Being a respected wizard saint and all, he's pretty famous. It was always them staring at Makarov Dreyar's grandson, never just Laxus. I wanted to be known for something different, not just riding on Jiji's coat tails. Then it would at least be worth something."

Hope considered this. So he felt overshadowed by that legend? But still...

"Well...for what it's worth. I think you're forgetting something." He began. "The Raijinshuu, they're your friends. They became your friends after getting to know you. I don't have to tell you that they look up to you...they wouldn't have agreed to this otherwise. Besides, there's us...everyone in the guild. We know you're related by blood but it didn't really matter. There's Grandpa too, of course. As far as we were concerned, you're Laxus Dreyar, one of Fairy tail's strongest members." Hope glanced at the amber guild mark on his left hand and placed his other hand on it. "You could look at it this way. Why should you care what people who never stop to think that they ought to know you believe? You worked hard to get to this level. I think that's something you can be proud of. What part of that had anything to do with you being the guild master's grandson?"

"...When did you get so wise?"

"You think I am? I'm just stating things that are obvious from my perspective."

"Yeah, but they're things I completely missed. You're definitely on the right track, you know? Always moving forward."

Hope tilted his head a little "You know...Mira-san once told me that sometimes a goal is never as meaningful as the things you find on the way to getting it."

"Heh, that's true." Laxus found it a little sad that this was the first real conversation they've had in...he wasn't even sure how much time passed. Or did they ever have something like this? If only he'd thought to at least reach out sooner. He was feeling a little better for some reason...

"...Some of the things you said about me are true, though..." Hope didn't see Laxus turn to him with a surprised expression because his head was lowered. "I don't think I can face up to my past. I'm not even sure if I can tell the others. But if it does catch up..."

"...Clearly, you've been hit way hard on the head." Laxus interjected. "Or you would be listening to yourself. The only people who could deem you a coward are those high on something. In my case, that would be power. But you're not. You were right not to care about my opinion but I've got a good guess on who put that idea in your head. So ignore them, better yet prove them wrong like you did me."

He wasn't sure if this was sinking in for the brunet. Another reason being his next words.

"So this...it isn't...like _that_ time, right?"

'...!'

_'So, that's why...' _Laxus ran a hand through his hair. Both he and Endymion were aware of the real meaning of the question. Which happened to be the same reason Natsu asked Gajeel to punch Laxus in his place. The previous events stirred up something painful in Hope. He knew another reason Natsu and Endymion were angry with him, the past was not something they wanted the boy thinking on but all this mess did was dredge it up.

The brunet raised his head when he felt Laxus' hand on it. The blond noted how his eyes were filled with emotions, pain and fear the most prominent. Laxus had a feeling something was up but it wasn't the time to ask.

"No. It isn't. You haven't done anything wrong. Nothing like that will happen again."

* * *

"At least we just confirmed that Gajeel won't try singing or anything."

Gray looked relieved at Happy's remark, he wasn't sure how the iron dragon slayer could do that in the parade but judging by the way he took their comments over his performing, he had a feeling that he would find a way if he wanted to.

"Good," Warren shared his sentiment. "Otherwise we'd all be broke."

Happy blinked "What does money have to do with it?"

"Simple, we'd be paying all the people seeing the parade for the damage Gajeel causes."

"Ah..." He nodded, that was a good point and that was not even mentioning the damage _they _would take..."...Yeah, let's just not go there."

* * *

"You sure you should be drinking that already?"

Makarov turned to see Hope walk over and join him by the bar, glancing at his mug before answering. "Ah, it isn't like I haven't had it in different times...at least that's what I tried to tell Mira but she wouldn't give me anything but juice. Juice! I should be allowed to drink booze when I want!"

'When you aren't recovering from a heart attack, sure.' Endymion pointed out, getting a sigh from the guild master. No need to take any chances.

"Well, you'd get to it soon anyway." Hope added. "I really don't understand why you and Cana and the others like alcohol so much anyway."

"You'll understand when you're older, kiddo." Makarov said, taking another sip.

"I seriously doubt that."

Makarov chuckled. '...You do realize that watching any drunks here would put anyone with a good amount of sense off alcohol, don't you?' Endymion couldn't help but ask.

"...Can't argue with that." The man conceded, recalling some of the awkward and troublesome moments the guild's drunk mages caused. That and the bills he had to pay due to some of those moments made him avoid the drink for some time. _(AN: Yeah, they were that high) _"Glad to see you're doing all right after all."

Hope gave him a curious look, not hearing this since Makarov had lowered his voice so he asked what he said.

"Never mind, just thinking out loud...So Fantasia, huh?"

* * *

The Harvest Festival was here, with everyone in Magnolia enjoying it immensely. People apparently came from different places to witness it, with the highlight being Fairy tail's Fantasia parade at the end.

The night sky had soon sailed in, but unlike the other days Magnolia's streets were glowing with colorful lights. Fireworks went off and the crowds gathered to see the parade in process.

Many floats passed, in bright colors and different shapes. The most prominent one at first was the one that had a figure of an apparently younger Happy sitting down with his wings out. The members of Fairy tail were all dressed up and ready to go, each doing their part as planned. Some walking along and dancing and waving to the crowd while the rest showed the crowd their magic.

Cana stood on a float with Macao and Wakaba, using her magic to make her cards spin around her, surrounded by pink hearts. Macao created a sphere of purple fire which he proceeded to throw up, Wakaba then shot it with some of his own smoke magic, making it explode into sparkles.

Then came Lucy, Levy and Bisca in matching mostly pink outfits. The three held a pair of flags each and danced with them in great sync and grace, pumping the observers up some more.

Max, Jet, Droy and Warren were on the float just behind them. Next came Elfman in his Beast soul form, giving a mighty roar that took some by surprise. Afterwards, to her fans' delight, came Mirajane out of a pink rose that bloomed. She raised a hand to the crowd with a smile. Then closing her eyes to be surrounded by golden light, people presumed her to be changing into something spectacular only to be shocked when a great dark red gecko like creature that had a tuft of Mira's hair on its head stared back at them.

Next were Gray and Juvia, who were standing on a float that seemingly had a lot of space in the back. The reason for that became clear when Gray raised his hand and an ice palace emerged, the two were fittingly dressed as a prince and princess. Their outfits were a matching blue and gold color with some different shades.

The ice-make mage looked at his partner, who nodded, smiling and waved her hand in a half circle. An arc of water rose behind them, right before the castle's gate. Gray froze it with a wave of his hand, revealing that Fairy tail's name on the ice right in the middle.

Then came Natsu, walking along with Happy, both walking before a big sphere of fire. _(AN: I'm not sure if it is a sphere to be honest, it just looked like a sort of big fire wave on the video but what the heck...) _

Happy was dressed in a green suit with a red bowtie, waving at the crowd with an "Aye!"

Natsu stopped walking for a moment before breathing in a part of the flames and raising his head and spitting them out. He soon showed them why he was the famous Salamander as he handled the flames well enough to spell out the guild's name in flames. People were confused when they saw he left some of the flames, wondering what he wanted to do with those.

The answer to that came just after a soft, musical cry that made the crowd look up. A bird of pure light soared through the flames, making them trail after it. For a moment it was thought that this was supposed to be some eagle or another sort of bird, but on a closer note, found it similar to the legendary phoenix. It just seemed to exude a special feeling with such grace and remarkable poise.

The bird somersaulted and shot up towards the sky before descending with the same great speed on an empty float, slowing down at the last minute and getting on it. The light slowly disappeared, revealing Hope dressed in a white, silver and blue knight costume with a cape. With a wave of his hand, the boy summoned a shining sword and proceeded to perform a spinning slash, creating two rings of light around him that faded away moments later, leaving behind sparkles to fall down like snowflakes.

The crowd continued cheering, amazed as ever by Fairy tail's performances. Hope then proceeded to throw the sword back to the float just behind the one he stood on, the weapon left a trail of light as it shot out.

Erza grabbed the sword without missing a beat, adding it to the swords spinning around her with a flourish. The light faded it out, revealing that the sword matched the ones floating around her. She wore a beautiful red and yellow outfit with some white in it, the dress looking like a flower. In a flash, Erza changed into a more revealing outfit with a smile.

Unbeknownst to the some of the participants, a number of the people they'd come to know on jobs and their friends came to see the festival. Among them Gray's old friend (or rival) and former fellow pupil, Lyon Vastia and his friends Sherry, Toby and Yuka, also Erza's friends Millianna, Sho and Wally.

Makarov watched the proceedings, preparing for his own entrance.

"Master." He turned to Gajeel.

"You're not going to be in the parade?"

"It's the like I told short stuff. Not really my style."

"You don't say, Mr. Shooby doo bop?"

Gajeel pouted for a moment at the reminder of the disaster of a song he played on the day of the interview, he still believed that his guild mates were completely ungrateful after their reactions that day. But it wasn't the time for that.

"I found your son, Master Ivan." He handed Makarov a paper. "He doesn't have any idea that I'm a double agent."

"Thanks for the hard work, my boy. Sorry for pushing something so dangerous on you." Makarov responded, pocketing the object. "We can't let him do what he wants.

"Ah, no problem. I won't screw up anyway." Gajeel responded, smiling a bit when the man patted his shoulder. He wanted to say more but this wasn't the time to talk about stuff like this.

"Hey Master, come on!" Someone called.

"If you excuse me, the public awaits!"

Gajeel held back a chuckle as he leaned against the wall, watching the guild master's antics on the float.

Even Laxus had stayed for the parade, smiling contently as he watched the proceedings, remembering the first one he participated in years ago...

**"You're really not going to participate, how come?" Laxus asked Makarov. **

**"Never mind me, this is your big moment. I'll be watching you."**

**"If you say so...But I won't be able to see you..." Laxus stopped to think. His face lit up. "I know! I'll do this!" He raised his hand with the thumb out and the forefinger pointed up while the rest of the fingers folded to the palm.**

**"You'll raise your hand?"**

**"It's a message! It means even if I can't see you, I'll always be looking your way!" Laxus smiled. **

**Makarov teared up a little "Laxus..."**

Laxus continued to smile, watching Makarov dance in a somewhat wild fashion and wave happily at the crowd, who seemed to find him goofy and amusing. He flexed his hand in the sign he made up for a moment and turned to leave.

Thinking he could have one last glance before leaving the town, Laxus turned around and stopped, shocked.

His former guild mates had stopped what they were doing and raised a hand in the air, doing Laxus' sign. Every last one of them, even Natsu with his broken hand and Makarov...Laxus' mouth fell as he realized what their message was.

Even if they were apart and with the trouble he caused, he was still one of them and Fairy tail would always look his way.

The lightning dragon slayer cried, feeling like a great fool, mentally thanking Makarov and the guild at large for this. For it meant more than he could ever express in words.

* * *

_Well, how about that? _

_Oh, I drew up a picture of Hope and I'd like my readers to tell me if they'd like to see it. I'd be more than happy to post it then but there's a slight problem._

_Would one of you please tell me how I could post it? I've never tried this before._


	18. Chapter 18

_This is something I planned ever since Chapter 14, so I'm definitely using it now.  
_

_hey-im-a-nerd: Yeah, I think I see your point. I know it might seem that way but it's just that I plan to reveal the information gradually. And as to the 'problem', it's that Hope had a much lower stamina than the rest of the guild, especially when he joined. Let's just say it took blood, sweat and tears for Hope to make it this far. You're going to understand more when I get to his past but I don't mean you have to take it, I just didn't find the right time to reveal this stuff. But anyway back to the point. Hope's problem was made worse after his fusion with Endymion, the magic used in the experiment was just too much and it caused some lasting side ffects. One would be somewhat altering Hope's appearance and another would be the all around lasting damage to his body. It's the reason he has partial amnesia. And the lasting damage is why the problem sort of persists, a potion from Porlyusica helps boost his health hence his improved stamina. The pendant also helps there . The first's shard power naturally helps recover magic, it's enhanced with a rune that has a similar function to a Zero Ray spell. Does that help? I'm not really good at explaining sometimes... _

_XxNamastePeoplexX: Thanks, glad you like the story but seriously I didn't even know what an Uke was until reading your review and then having to look it up. What the heck would make you think that anyway? Nothing against Yaoi fanfics or the people who right them but the idea of writing one kind of weird me out, which is why this fic is not yaoi. Sorry if you're disappointed.  
_

* * *

Things settled down and went to normal...sorry, I mean as normal as they can be with Fairy tail. The members were surprised to learn of Laxus' excommunication and Natsu even yelled at Makarov for it but there wasn't much he could do about it. Fortunately, he seemed to have calmed down somewhat after going on a job with the rest of the team.

"Way to back a friend up, guys." Loke groaned, sitting down.

Gray snorted as he suppressed a chuckle "Sorry dude, but you really had it coming."

"Seriously." Natsu nodded.

Cana looked between the two for a moment "...Did he do something to Hope?"

"How'd you know?" asked Natsu.

"One, because Erza looked really pissed off just now and two, Hope is one of the only things you two can agree on."

"Can't argue with that." Gray shrugged. "Let's just say Loke tried and I quote Erza by this, besmirch her little brother's virtue."

"...You're joking."

"Nope."

"Where is he anyway?" Cana asked, looking for the subject of their conversation.

"He had to play peacemaker when those two went at it again " Loke ignored the fire and ice mages exclaiming that it was the latter's fault, knowing despite not looking that they were butting heads behind him. "So rightfully exhausted, he went home."

Cana gave the lion spirit a look that was between sympathetic and pitying. "Still, way to go find a death wish. I thought you had more sense than that."

Natsu nodded in agreement "See? It's not just me saying that."

"Hey, I just thought it was high time to make Hope my brother in arms like he should have been a long time ago. It only seems fitting. We already know the ladies would like him, Clarie did. What's wrong with wanting him to improve?" Loke asked, looking indignant for a moment. Clarie was the daughter of the client who they just finished a job for. One of the main reasons for all this was that she had taken a particular liking to Hope and even gave him a kiss on the cheek when the team finished the job.

But that wasn't the problem, Erza and Lucy enjoyed that part and thought it was cute with Hope getting embarrassed and all. Oh no, the problem was that Loke suggested that they should go on a date. (Mainly because he'd seen how they interacted before) and that he would be more than glad to help plan and possibly guide Hope along. Clarie made the mistake of asking what that meant and well...Loke started to describe one idea and Erza hit him on the head when she realized how badly things were going (Lucy was all for protecting her spirits but well, she couldn't exactly scold Erza for that and she did think Loke had it coming). Things got awkward but the client thankfully took matters into his hands by saying that he didn't know about a date but they were more than welcome to come visit soon.

"You know, that would sound decent coming from anyone else." Gray said.

"I'll say." Lucy walked over with a frown.

"Lucy, you too?! Why does everyone expect the worse of me?"

Natsu looked annoyed "It's just like last time. You make it sound all nice but then we know what you want to do. You're worth twenty perverts and I'm pretty sure hanging around you made Macao worse!"

"See? Even Flame brain has you all figured out. You're that obvious." Gray said.

"Yeah...hey!" Natsu glared at him.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she knew a fight was coming "Ignoring the fact that Hope knows better than to listen to that kind of thing, it was completely annoying to watch, Loke. You think anyone would want to listen to Flirting 101?"

"Seriously? In front of Erza no less, you really were asking for it." Cana deadpanned.

"I'd leave now if I were you. If Gramps hears this, you're in even bigger trouble." Natsu advised.

Loke looked a little freaked out at this. Being beaten by Erza was bad enough, but Makarov too? No, thanks. He didn't make it for so long to die like this. The first time this happened, Makarov swore that Hope would be allowed to have a girlfriend once he was sixteen and not a day before that. Then he let Erza punish Loke for the bright idea (after he helped). "...I'd better go."

Lucy just shook her head "So this happened before?"

"Sure did. Let's just say that Hope grew on most of us pretty quick." Cana said. "By..."

"By being himself, I know." After all the boy was kind, hard working, polite and patient (a particularly important trait in this guild) Why wouldn't they like him? She knew she did from the first day.

"Exactly, seeing as he's one of the few guys around who rarely gets all terrified with Erza, they're close and she started treating him like a brother soon after that. The reason Loke's so interested in this is what happened when Hope ran into some of his dates the other day. They liked him a lot and they thought he was pretty charming and all so your knucklehead of a spirit decided to make sure Hope would become the amazing gentleman he was obviously meant to be and sweep any girl off her feet in a moment and steal her heart." Cana explained.

Lucy blinked "What?"

"Loke's words, not mine."

"Oh."

"So, you're all set?" Happy asked, he and Erza were sitting at the bar.

"Certainly." Curiosity made the cat ask about what she prepared. "Hm, I don't know..."

"Please?" Happy looked at her with bright, puppy eyes (AN: _or is it kitty eyes in this case? I don't know..._).

Erza soon caved "All right, but you tell this to no one."

"Aye, sir!" Hey, he was a snitch sometimes, he might have enjoyed ruining secrets every now and then but disobeying Erza with that tone would mean he was suicidal and he wasn't. Happy's eyes widened at the box she revealed then "Whoa, nice! Count on you to know the best in this kind of stuff."

"Ehem!" Erza looked a little smug but quickly put the box away.

Happy then remembered something "So who won Miss Fairy tail anyway?"

"Erza did." Lucy answered, sitting down next to the redhead.

"Whaddya know. How come you look so pleased?"

"Because I came in second place." She replied. "I didn't get the money but I can always look for a request that pays my rent. I'm just glad because I proved you wrong."

"Come to think of it, I heard Happy thought you didn't have a chance in the contest." Erza commented.

"Yup, and think about it, I never even got to perform thanks to Evergreen." Not that Lucy held it against the woman, especially since the Raijinshuu had grown friendlier and were getting along well with the rest of the guild. "And I still nailed second place. That says a lot don't you think?"

"Absolutely," Erza said, thinking it over. "It means you're a worthy rival. Let's see how next year turns out!"

"Yeah!"

Happy just seemed unimpressed. Okay, he _might _have been wrong but there was no way he'd admit it. For one thing, he didn't want to and the other, he couldn't stand to see the smug look on Lucy's face if he did. So what else could he say besides..."You're feeding her ego, Erza. It's big enough as it were."

Count on Happy to ruin her mood.

"What was that, you stupid cat?!"

* * *

"Say, Mira." She looked at Gray. "You stopped Happy from grabbing any fish for you know what, right?"

"I did. Don't worry." She nodded. "He was a big help in setting things up actually. Everything's ready and it'll be just how we wanted it."

"Cool, so..."

A puzzled Juvia looked between the two, suddenly growing alarmed. '_It couldn't be...could Gray-sama...'_

She unconsciously started imagining where the conversation would lead.

"Mira-chan," Gray would say in his wonderful voice. (AN: _Remember, Juvia's point of view...and imagination) _"Everything's all settled, right?"

"Of course, Gray. I can't wait. The wedding will be just how we wanted it." Mira smiled radiantly.

"Absolutely, you're the only one for me."

_(AN: Normal POV now)_

"NO!"

Gray and Mira started and turned to the wailing Juvia. Natsu walked over, attracted by her cry. "What's with her?"

"Got me..." Gray answered, just as confused. He thought he heard her say something about how she was supposed to compete with someone like Mira but then scratched that thought. He must have heard wrong, why would she want to compete with Mira?

"Gray-sama!" Juvia ran up to him. "Juvia can't take this! Please don't get married!"

"What?!"

Natsu and Mira exchanged baffled looks before looking at Gray "You're getting married?"

"Does it look like I am, you idiot?!" The ice make mage snapped. "What the heck are you talking, Juvia?"

"Where did you get that idea?" Mira added, tilting her head. They already knew about her massive crush on Gray but she couldn't see what would give Juvia that idea now.

"Juvia heard you and Happy-san talking about preparations for something good yesterday. And then you were calling the bakery for a cake and Happy was talking about decorations..."

"Oh." Well, she supposed, that was quite a jump but it made some amount of sense. "Don't get the wrong idea, Juvia. Me and Gray aren't like that." The girl blinked at her and she continued. "We were preparing something and we're going to finish today, that's all. I just thought it was better to keep things under wrap for now."

"Er, why?"

"You forgot? Remember the thing I told you about on the day of Miss Fairy tail?" Gray asked.

"Oh! Juvia remembers now...Juvia's sorry, Juvia completely forgot you were setting up..."

"As long as you know."

Natsu blinked, remembering that he was wondering about this too. He took note of Lucy, Erza, Levy and Happy joining them and Cana going to drink. _Again. _"Come to think of it, Loke was saying something like that. Being prepared for something..."

"You mean you still haven't figured it out?" Gray asked, sounding exasperated.

Levy blinked, confused. "I thought you knew..."

"Well, I don't! What gives?"

"Hope's birthday was the same day as the festival, so we're planning a party tomorrow." Lucy answered. It was supposed to be today and the job Team Natsu went on should have provided time to set up and it did, they just didn't expect it to wear Hope down like that so it had to be postponed.

"What?! Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We thought you knew." She and Levy replied.

So_ that _was what Happy gave him that annoyed look for the other day. Natsu inwardly groaned, recalling what Happy said about Hope remembering his birthday and it was true...damn, he was a lousy friend...

Gray facepalmed "What was I even thinking? There's no way he'd know without us spelling it out."

"You could have said something before!" Natsu scowled.

"It's supposed to be a surprise party," Erza pointed out.

"Look, since it bugs you so much you can stop wasting time and go find a gift." Lucy advised.

"Yeah!" He sped out of the guild.

* * *

"So, we're done?"

"Yup!"

Hope had been confused when Happy came to his room in the morning and asked for his help in getting some ingredients, which in the cat's case meant fish, that were on sale today. He didn't mind helping but was it just him or was Happy a little too keen on keeping him from the guild HQ? Not once did they go near it, even though he knew that one of the stores that would have some of the best foods in Magnolia was on the street leading to the guild building. But Happy wouldn't hear it and insisted on going to other shops instead.

He tried asking Endymion but the phoenix just said that he didn't know. But Hope knew him long enough to tell that he was keeping something.

What was going on today?

"Want one?" Happy offered a fish.

"Ah thanks, they're all yours."

The two were heading to the park for a break, only to be surprised to find a little boy crying at the entrance. Confused but worried, Happy and Hope exchanged a look before going to check up on him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Happy asked.

The boy sniffed and looked at them "I got lost...I don't know this place well and my brother never came to get me home..."

"So he forgot..."

Hope smiled encouragingly "It's all right, we can help you find your house."

"R-really?" Wait, where did he see those two...?

"Sure, what do you say, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!"

* * *

"Whoa!" The boy let out a gasp as Hope flew with him around Magnolia. "This is awesome!" He looked at Happy "And magic lets you do that?"

"Sure does! See your house from here?"

"Uh..." He looked around again, it was a little overwhelming but interesting to see the town like this. "...Not sure...hey, wait...Now I know why you look familiar!" He turned to Happy "You're the one in the suit from the parade." To Hope. "And you're that knight!"

"Yup, that's us. You saw that?"

"Yeah, it was awesome!" The boy exclaimed. "So you're Fairy tail mages, right?"

Hope nodded and the boy continued "Mom moved here to start a job and we heard about Fantasia. It was so cool! What's being in a guild like?"

"Great, it's like...well, speaking for myself, I feel right at home. We're surrounded by friends so it's a lot of fun. I couldn't imagine where I'd be without them." Hope replied.

Happy smiled and added "Yup, it gets crazy every once in a while but we're getting used to it."

"Heh..." The boy blinked when he spotted a familiar blue roof. "...Whoa, go down! That's Mom's shop!"

The two did as he asked and they found a woman in a white and blue dress walking out, looking worried.

"Mom!"

Her face lit up "Ravi! Oh, thank goodness...Drake said he forgot and..."

"I knew it." The boy huffed.

"So who are they?"

Ravi grinned "They're Fairy tail wizards! They helped me find a way here."

"Really?" She smiled brightly at Happy and Hope and thanked them, the two told her not to worry about it. "We're still new here so Ravi's still getting used to the area."

Hope tilted his head a little to take a look at her shop, noticing some strings and what looked a dress on a table just beside the door. "You're a tailor?"

"Yeah, the shop is opening in two days. Why don't you come in for tea? It's the least I can do for helping Ravi."

"Sorry but no thanks." Happy replied. "We're a little busy but we'll just see you on the opening day...uh..."

"Elena." She supplied her name. "I'm Elena Hartwell. I'll be looking forward to it then."

* * *

"Say, Happy, what did you have in mind? Unless it's a job..."

"I knew you forgot." The cat responded from his perch on Hope's head. He wasn't the only one to notice how Hope had been a little distracted ever since the fighting festival, something must have happened there...

They reached the guild door "Well, it's a..." He pushed the door open and Hope barely noticed how it was dark...

"SURPRISE!"

* * *

"Happy birthday." A grinning Happy and an amused Endymion said.

It clicked for Hope then _'I really did forget...guess it's just me though...' _Before he realized it, he was smiling at his guild mates gratefully "Thank you, everyone."

Levy beamed and brought him before the cake, which had 14 candles. "You know the drill, make a wish now!"

Hope did so and blew the candles. Happy switched the lights on then. Elfman grinned "14 years old! Now you're becoming a MAN!"

Jet raised an eye "What the heck are you talking about? We come of age at 17."

"Maybe he means a step up in that road?" Droy offered.

"I've given up on trying to figure him out..." Lucy shook her head. "Anyway happy birthday, Hope!"

"Thanks..." Looking around he saw most of the guild available, even the Raijinshuu and Loke.

"Yo." The spirit waved. "I wouldn't miss this. Capricorn couldn't make it but he wishes you a happy birthday too."

Hope thanked him too and asked to pass it to the goat spirit. Ever since that day in the forest, they'd taken to having spars occasionally, sometimes the rest of the team came. Lucy had joined them on the second time and it soon became something the whole team was used to. Lately, Capricorn had taken the chance to train Lucy and help her learn some combat moves to defend herself in a pinch as well as increase her magic. He offered to let the rest of them join once Lucy was used to it. Hope could safely say he considered the spirit a friend too.

"Yo, Hope," Bickslow greeted. "Guess we crashed in on the festivities."

"Of course _you_ wouldn't mind. We didn't even know, remember?" Evergreen pointed out.

"No one's saying anything like that. You're welcome to stay." Hope replied. "I probably wouldn't have remembered anything about my birthday any time soon."

"So, 14, huh?" Bickslow commented. "I'm starting to get why he calls you Chibi, you still got growing up to do."

Freed rolled his eyes as the soul mage's puppets trilled the phrase 'Growing up!' then "Feel free to ignore him. Many happy returns."

"Thank you."

* * *

"Say, Salamander." Natsu looked at Gajeel. "Quick question, why are there two cakes when the party's just for Bird boy?"

The fire mage made a flat face "That's easy. Watch."

He raised an eye and followed Natsu's line of sight until his eyes fell on Erza, who was eating the second cake with a wide smile.

"What the...?! When did she even..." Most of the cake was gone and it was big, at least the size of a large dinner plate.

"That's just Erza. We've had enough experience to make sure that she backs off if we do that."

"...Wow, just wow."

"So, surprise huh?"

Hope smiled at Makarov, who was walking up to him. "I didn't even realize...you didn't have to..."

"Yeah, we know." The man waved him off, knowing what he was going to say. "We wanted to. As long as everyone has fun, mission accomplished."

Then the games rolled on. First a number of the on goers divided into teams of two to play Marshmallow Ball. Half the participants went to one side while the rest were a fair distance away on the other.

Gray and Juvia ended up being a team (mainly because the water mage wouldn't have anybody partnering up with Gray, despite numerous reassurances that it was just a game). Unfortunately, that ended up being a disaster because Juvia was too excited so she fumbled a lot of times, whether it was her turn to catch or throw a marshmallow. A number of the observers ended up laughing at the pair, Natsu being the loudest. Not that he had much to laugh about there.

Why? He ended up partnering up with Happy and it went great for a while until Makarov noticed that Happy was flying to catch the pieces Natsu threw, and quickly forbid it, stating that it wasn't fair for the rest since they weren't using magic. So he permitted Happy to use his wings to just float since his legs were that much shorter than the rest, much to their chagrin and Gray's amusement.

In the end, it came down to three teams, Levy and Mira (Jet and Droy wouldn't stop fighting over who would get to partner up with Levy so she took things into her hands. Lucy and Erza were another, the last team was Hope and Loke, who seemed to be doing the best so far. Unfortunately, the first team lost when Levy was distracted by her teammates' cheering and then bickering, because Jet didn't want Droy cheering her on and vice versa, so she missed the marshmallow.

The problems for the the second team came when Erza started getting carried away with throwing the marshmallows...

"Whoa, Erza, slow down!" Lucy exclaimed. "You're going to make me...whoa!" She yelped, almost falling over the stairs in her haste to catch the flying marshmallow.

Almost, because Loke caught her before she fell. "That's some turn up, eh, Lucy?" He stopped to catch the marshmallow he saw then, quickly swallowing it before continuing."For the record, I dedicate our win to you."

"Saw that one coming..." She blinked, what did the winners receive in the first place?

Loke ended up answering that question when he picked up the basket of cupcakes and sweets Mira handed him then. He and Hope agreed to split it in half.

"Aw, man...that's lucky..." She heard Natsu groan.

"Hope?" The brunet turned to see Happy walk up to him with an expression he knew well, which was why he said this.

"Yeah, we can share some later."

"Yay!"

* * *

Boom!

"Whose stupid idea was this?!" Natsu demanded.

"The stupid idea was letting you participate." Cana deadpanned.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, nothing in the guild exploded per se, the noise came from Natsu's balloon. Someone suggested playing Balloon Shaving and numerous balloons were set up with shaving cream on top and the participating members started shaving. Natsu was among the first to discover that whoever set up the balloons had place whipped cream on the inside as an extra measure.

"No one let him participate, he shoved himself in." Jet poined out.

Like one of the most destructive people in the guild would have last in something like this, Cana thought. A number of pops soon showed that plenty of people had problems with it. "Of course he'd say the game was stupid."

"Because it is!" Natsu insisted.

"Give it a rest, Cana's drunk but she's still holding up really well." Warren said.

"When _isn't _she drunk?"

"Oh, come on," Makarov shook his head. "You need to be delicate, brats."

"Come to think of it, Master, you're handling this well." Erza remarked.

"Yeah, how the heck does that work, Gramps?" Gray asked, wiping the last of the whipped cream off his face.

"Experience," he answered smugly, when Gray raised an eye. "It's the same thing I do when I shave my beard. Only a little harder."

"Huh..."

"Beard, huh? Guess that's useful!" Bickslow commented.

His 'babies' repeated the word after him. Unfortunately this started a number of the people around him, since they were so concentrated on their balloons, which now popped.

That included Evergreen, who never had much of a tolerance to the dolls in the first place. The fact that she was doing rather well too made it that much worse. "You...idiot!" She snapped her fingers, using her fairy magic to blast the puppets.

"Ah! What're you doing, Ever?"

"That's what I want to ask!"

"Well, for the record, Master," Levy said, ignoring the rising argument. "You're the last person with the balloon so you won."

"Oh yeah? Well, all right! What does that mean for me?"

* * *

Makarov's pleasure soon evaporated when he saw that his brats had gotten into a massive fight before he knew it, mainly because some of them got caught up between Evergreen and Bickslow, who were fighting. Their attempt to retaliate was messed up or deflected, angering the rest and so the usual fight began. It wasn't too hard to start a big fight in this guild. Fortunately, it was soon somehow broken up by an angered Erza, who had enough of their bickering and wouldn't stand for it ruining the party.

Things slowly calmed down after that as they performed some more activities and continued the party in classic Fairy tail style. Soon it was time for the presents.

"How about you take a look at this first?" Gray picked up a rectangular parcel wrapped with a simple blue ribbon. Hope took it with a curious look and he added. "It's from me and Loke."

Hope tilted his head a little and opened the box, revealing it to hold blue wristbands lined with gold and silver. "I heard about this from a friend but those apparently help smooth spell casting." Loke explained. "I never stuck around for the details but he said drawing on your magic becomes easier and you can use less power that way. It seemed like a good idea."

The boy thanked them, realizing they were just hoping to make things easier on him. Lucy smiled "That's actually pretty thoughtful of you."

Loke gave her a charming smile "Oh this is nothing, Lucy! I'll make sure to blow you away on your birthday."

"Can't wait." She said flatly. She was getting fed up with his antics but a small part of her was curious to see what he would do when the day came.

"Ne, Ne, Hope, here's mine!" Happy flew to the boy's lap and handed him a notebook wrapped in a red and gold ribbon.

Gray looked confused "A notebook?"

"Nope, remember that old songbook we found in the library which Hope fixed up?" Happy said.

"Only to have _someone_ destroy it on the same day." The ice mage finished, glancing at Natsu and Elfman, who looked sheepish and apologetic when they remembered that they nearly tore the thing in half in an argument.

"Yup, well, I got it all fixed up! It wasn't easy but it's lucky we kept it in decent condition."

Hope smiled "Thanks, Happy." The cat beamed back.

"Well then, here's mine." Erza waved her hand, casting a spell to get the present out of a pocket dimension. A simple but incredibly useful spell. The light faded away from the item, revealing it to be a pair of dual blades that can turn to pistols like Hope's older weapon with an intricate design, it was mostly colored green and silver with some gold lining. "This was made by a skilled blacksmith from Aetheria. The moment I saw it I thought it would be perfect."

"You were right, thank you."

Levy smiled as the happy knight mage gave Hope a hug "Then we're next." Lucy nodded and took out a parcel wrapped with blue and pink gift paper. "Me and Lu-chan ended up having a similar idea so we got you two books. One's about the history of templars, on the off chance that it might help you figure something out about the pendant..."

Lucy took over "The other has notes on some old spells, even a couple listed under Sacred Trigram. If you want to brainstorm later, count us in."

Hope's expression clearly showed interest as he proceeded to thank them too. Natsu ended up getting him a sea green coat (since he was the reason Hope's own was destroyed the last time they went looking for Igneel). He wasn't too sure about it, even though he believed it seemed like a fair idea at the time but Hope seemed all right with it, which was the only thing that allowed him to put up with Gray's teasing as the ice mage considered it a lame gift. The two were distracted when they heard Mirajane stating that Elfman was going to have to give his gift later, since the first one he picked was an absolutely terrible idea. Apparently, he'd just gotten carried away and liked the idea a lot. Mira herself had given Hope a gift box just then, stating it was from her, Bisca and Alzack (since they were the ones who gave her the idea). They couldn't see what it was but Hope seemed surprised and happy with it.

Makarov's gift was a set of stones that would be a perfect fit to be used to in making argonium rings. Cana and Warren gave him a box of tools that would help with just that. Juvia ended up picking up a white and gold hat that had a little star shaped clip on the side.

Having not expected this all in the least, Hope was thrilled and he couldn't be more grateful to his guild mates for doing all this. Something that showed clearly with all the times he thanked them already.

"Enough of that already," Gray ruffled his hair. They were all clearly pleased he liked the gifts so much and that the party went down as well as it did. "We already know you'd do the same for us and as you can see everyone was up for it..." He stiffened "...You mind freezing Cana? She looks drunk enough to spike the rest of the punch..."

* * *

"I thought I'd find you here."

Erza started at the voice and turned to see Hope joining her in the balcony. She had oddly vanished as things were settling down and he had to admit there was something he'd been wanting to ask her ever since their last job.

"What is it?" She prompted when he vocalized that thought.

"You're...really okay, right?"

Endymion elaborated at her baffled look 'It's fine if you just admit it. You're wondering about Mystogan, aren't you?'

She sighed "I suppose it was obvious but I can't help it...We really thought Jellal died when the tower was destroyed and now this happens..."

'Mystogan did say he just knew of Jellal. There must be more to it than that.' They weren't with the team at the tower of heaven but it was easy to see how much that and seeing Mystogan affected her. It was understandable though, Mystogan looked just like her old friend. Even if they didn't get along at the time, fighting Jellal must have saddened her.

"Yeah..."

"...You're worried about what you're going to do if you see the real thing, aren't you?" Erza glanced at Hope, who looked sympathetic. "Even with everything he did, you were close. Some bonds don't just vanish so easily. It must have been hard to watch him do those things."

"...It really wasn't. I hated fighting Jellal when I remembered how he used to be but with the way he was so insistent on believing in that ridiculous plan, there wasn't anything else I could do. I still think back and wonder if there was something I could do...what does that make me?"

"A good friend." Hope replied, smiling at her. "Jellal must have been a nice person if you felt that way. It's understandable to be reluctant to fight, in a circumstance like that too. I mean we know people who love fighting but I don't think any of them are actually eager to hurt others, that's just competitiveness. All things considered...I think you did the best you could do, even if it was a hard choice, so don't worry about it okay?"

"Hope..."

"About Mystogan-san...just don't think about it too much now. There's no use worrying about something you can't control but I'll help you. We'll make sure things work out. Promise."

Erza smiled warmly and pulled him into her embrace. Honestly, she should have expected this. Endymion never trusted anyone easily but once you earned his trust he was a truly loyal and caring friend. Hope was just one of the sweetest and kindest people she knew. "...Hope, do me a favor?"

"?"

"Don't ever change."

* * *

_And that's all she wrote!_

_Sorry if anyone's disappointed by lack of action in the chapter but I've really been wanting to try something like this out. On another note, I figured out how to work image manager and posted Hope's picture as my profile pic. Check it out!  
_


	19. Chapter 19

_Hiya!_

_I've been told that I tend to just throw facts at you and make you take them this way. Sorry if that's true I just that I've got plans for plenty of the information I've been keeping. So if you want me to clarify anything about the story, let me know! I'll be more than happy to explain. The one thing I'll have to draw the line on is Hope's backstory._

_Well, now that that's sorted, enjoy!_

* * *

"Still no good?"

"Yeah..."

Erza gave Gray an annoyed look "Would it be too much to ask you to help?"

"Hey, I am! I'm trying to sort this out too!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Team Natsu was in a big library, searching through the books. The library was in fact part of the archives of Lorenzia, a city famous for producing famed scholars. They had finished a job asking them to defeat monsters that had launched numerous attacks on the city, something they managed to stop by casting a large magic shield to keep them back. The problem was that as they were leaving, the shield had somehow reactivated, locking everyone in. They couldn't destroy it since the shield regenerated in a matter of seconds after being struck.

The mayor was looking for his ancestor's map of the shield's location. Since it was blocking off Endymion's distant vision with runes, the team was left to look up a way to disable it from afar or to find a map of their own so they can remove the shield's core to fix it.

"I still don't get why Hope's magic didn't work." Happy admitted.

"Apparently, the shield's old and all they did was reactivate it. The one who made it was the mayor's ancestor, and they're both templars. The spells Hope knows don't work since their magic cancels each other out." Erza said.

"Heeh..."

"Can't we just destroy that core? This whole thing seems like a real hassle." Natsu said.

"No, we can't." Hope said firmly. "It'll only create problems for the people of the city when their best defensive measure is gone."

"Exactly," Lucy agreed. "This wouldn't be fair to them so no way. It's just malfunctioning, so we're going to _fix it._"

"I get it! I get it!" Natsu frowned at her. "What're you saying it like that for? Like you're sure I'm going to wreck things?"

"Well, let's think...oh, I know! That was a trick question, right?"

"Hey, if I said I won't then I won't! Tell you what, if you turn out to be right, then I'm buying you all dinner after we get this mess sorted." Natsu declared.

Lucy and Hope exchanged a surprised look before the former smirked. "You're on!"

'...You're going to regret that, you know.' Endymion said flatly.

Gray burst out laughing "Took the words right out of my mouth."

"Are you sure you should be making promises you might forget to keep?" Happy asked.

Natsu glared at the two, crossing his arms. He had every confidence that he would be able to do this on his own. "I won't forget so it's just fine."

Erza seemed amused "All right, we'll just see how this goes then."

"Yeah, we will!"

"You can't ask for Hope's help on this one, you know." Lucy said, picking up a rather large book.

"Who says I wanted to? You'll see, I can do this just fine." Natsu huffed.

"You just screwed him over, you know." Gray said flatly before grinning "Nice work, give me some." The two shared a high five.

"So what if happens if you lose the bet, Lucy?" Erza asked curiously

"I'll buy everyone dinner...is what I'd like to say but thanks to a certain juggernaut..." She glared at Natsu, who blinked and asked what a juggernaut even was. His expression changed into one of interest at Erza's explanation.

Lucy continued "...I barely have enough for rent money as it were. So...give me some time, I'll think of something."

"I know! I get to sleep on your bed!" Natsu suggested.

"Natsu, you did plenty of that as it were." Hope pointed out.

"Yeah but it ends up in me getting kicked halfway across the room because she's totally mean..."

'You're pushing it again.' Endymion cut him off.

Hope gave an exasperated sigh, mainly because they had numerous conversations about this "Well, you need to be fair. You wouldn't like someone to crash into your place, mess up your things and force their way onto your own bed, would you? The fact that it went for so long means that Lucy's really nice. Mean would have been doing something like...getting a restraining order, maybe?"

Lucy nodded in agreement, stopping when she realized the rest of the team were doing the same. "Hey, you guys don't get to just nod, you do it too!"

Natsu and Happy came to look over Hope's shoulders, seeing that the book he was reading was big and its writing was small in contrast. Happy jumped on the boy's lap before reading a bit of the page "You're reading up on rune magic? Why?"

"Well, it's a long shot but I thought if there was something we could use to deal with the shield even without the map." Hope admitted.

"Yeah but Hope, you can't use runes." Happy reminded.

"I don't have to. Levy and Freed-san were helping me make an argonium ring that employs writing magic. It's basically a rune at the ready that's supposed to cancel out whatever spells its used on. I've never had time to try it out so I don't want to take any chances. I thought maybe, for a back up plan, I'd see if there was any way we could use the runes on the shield to track it to the spell's source or something..." Hope turned to the book.

Natsu squinted at the page on his side "And this is just the basic guide? Man, rune magic is complicated...how the heck do you get any of this stuff?"

"Hope's a prodigy, remember?" Happy reminded.

"Hey, come on...I told you to stop with the prodigy thing already," Hope muttered, looking embarrassed.

The two responded with a "But it's true!"

"Heeh, so you guys are stuck too?" A new voice asked.

* * *

A girl about 16 with magenta colored hair that went past her waist tied in a ponytail and bright blue eyes approached the group. She wore a black and white jacket with a blue dress that went up to her knees and black boots.

"Too? As in you too?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you had better luck."

"Sorry to disappoint then, we're barely cracking this thing." Gray said.

"Why don't you join us? Working together will never hurt, especially with some of us..." Erza gave Natsu, Gray and Happy a pointed glare. "...are being less than helpful."

The girl quirked a brow as the three shied away from Erza but shrugged "Sure why not?"

Lucy made room for the girl to sit next to her on the couch. "So..." She trailed off, not knowing her name.

"Rebecca." She supplied, sitting down.

"I'm Lucy, nice to meet you. He's Natsu..."

"Yo." The dragon slayer waved.

"Happy..."

"Hi there!"

"The one putting down the big volume collection is Erza..."

The redhead smiled at her as she took a book from said collection "It's a pleasure."

"That's Gray."

"What's up?" He leaned back on his chair.

"And that's Hope." Lucy finished.

The templar smiled and was about to greet her when Rebecca's face lit up and she said "...So it was you after all."

Gray looked from one to the other "You two know each other?"

It was Rebecca who answered "Yeah, but I don't blame him for not remembering. Lemme see if this will ring a bell." She dug in her pocket and took out a dirty violet rock, she then covered it with her hand. A bronze spell circle flashed and she removed her hand, revealing the rock to have turned into a beautiful violet star which sparkled as the light hit it.

Hope's expression changed into surprise and then recognition before he smiled "So you're Star...I wondered what happened to you..."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Happy asked.

"We met before I joined the guild." He began. "Back then, she was in a really bad shape and I was still traveling. I took her to the inn and got us rooms, she wouldn't tell me anything about herself..."

"And then he saw me making a star of a rock just like this one, so he started calling me that." Rebecca chipped in.

Hope looked sheepish "Sorry about that..."

She shook her head. "I liked it, besides I was just being stupid and you went out of your way to help me when I wouldn't so much as tell you my name. I'm the one who should be saying sorry...I didn't think anybody would just do all this for me for no reason and not even ask for anything in return. I was just really ticked off so I took it out on you." When asked what happened, she gave an annoyed sigh "A bunch of bandits ambushed me after I beat their friends up for stealing my work and they got away with it anyway. Since no one did anything to help, I ended up leaving that town. Next thing I know, I'm in a bed and Hope's sleeping on the floor..."

"That's awful!" Erza frowned. "I certainly wish you gave those terrible people what they deserve."

"Taken care of." Rebecca said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "Well, imagine my surprise when the doctor tells me that the person who saved my skin wasn't just a traveler, but he's that famous White Paladin. I thought they were just stories but they were all true, and it's no surprise that people look up to him."

"I'm glad things worked out well for you but you're making it sound a lot better than it was...I just realized I couldn't leave people when they're suffering right in front me." Hope admitted.

"Things liked that tend to sound that way. Besides, I'm saying you don't realize how rare of a trait that can be." Rebecca elaborated.

"Well, that sounds like something he'd totally do." Gray remarked.

"You can say that again." Erza said, smiling, feeling proud of Hope again.

* * *

"So quick question," Rebecca looked around to make sure they were alone, suspecting that her next words might cause some awkwardness. Hope blinked at her "Refresh my memory but I'm pretty sure you said your name was..."

"Oh right...about that, it was what you remember."

She tilted her head a bit "Why'd you change it?"

"Well...in a way, it was necessary. I just didn't realize it back then." Hope paused for a moment. "The chance came up so I took it. It was supposed to signal a fresh start for me once I joined Fairy tail. Besides..."

"Besides?"

This was something Hope only told Endymion but he found that it couldn't hurt to explain himself. "...I felt relieved when it was said and done so you could say I was starting to hate it. I don't know how to explain it well. It's just...that name was associated with one too many bad memories...ones I couldn't forget if I tried."

Rebecca gave him a sympathetic look "You're trying to move on but you felt that name tied you down...You've really been through a lot, haven't you?"

The boy looked away but didn't answer. Rebecca's eyes widened at his expression then. He had done so much for her in the five days they spent together when they first met. He wasn't too different from that time, just more outgoing and upbeat. Then again she couldn't be too sure, considering how coldly she treated him then. But still...she never saw him so upset. This was definitely taboo territory. "Sorry! You didn't pry into my business back so I'll stay out of yours. Forget I said anything."

"N-no...sorry for giving you the wrong idea. It's just...not something I've ever talked about except with one friend of mine and even then, it wasn't easy. It's only because he knew me that well..." Hope admitted, glancing at the pendant. He stopped to think for a moment. "...Say, you think it's time we clear the air?"

Rebecca gave him a confused look, more so when he offered his hand and continued "My name's Hope Dreyar, nice to meet you."

She smiled, understanding and agreeing with his point before taking his hand. "I'm Rebecca Albini, back at you."

* * *

Natsu sighed "Isn't this enough already? I'm starving, you guys, let's get out of here!"

"That didn't work when you asked five minutes ago and it definitely wouldn't now." Gray said flatly.

Meanwhile, Hope and Lucy were trying to find what they could while getting to know Rebecca.

"Heeh, so you're a crystal mage?"

"My magic actually started out as just plain earth, all I could do was manipulate rocks and whatnot but then I found out I could even use the minerals in the earth and even plants, I'm not so good with that one though. But it was the crystal magic that got me interested in making stuff so I started studying up to do it even without magic." Rebecca admitted.

Hope gave her a curious look "Stuff like?"

"Oh, nothing special. Just necklaces and bracelets and that sort of thing." She replied modestly.

"Don't put yourself down like that. It sounds good to me." Lucy said kindly. "Would you show us some of your work?"

"S-sure..." Rebecca was then distracted when Hope's pendant caught her eye, gleaming in the light. "...Hey, that's really something..."

Lucy followed her line of sight to the item "For more reasons than one, believe it..."

Hope looked at the book in Erza's hand "Any luck?"

She sighed "I wish I could say yes. It's mostly what the mayor told us about the shield. I'm starting to think his great grandfather wanted information about it kept secret or something..."

"Hmm, did anyone find anything about how things were during his time?" Hope queried, looking thoughtful.

"There was something in that big book Lucy and Rebecca were looking over about some sort of big battle here, does that count?" Gray asked.

"Maybe...it's just a random thought but if looking in the present then we'll just have to dig in the past."

"Unless you found someway to time travel there's no way that would work." Natsu pointed out, looking confused.

Lucy's face lit up then "I get it, you're saying we should find the reason and basis behind the shield so we can find a lead to the core's location."

"Yup," Hope nodded with a smile.

"Okay, that's a start." The dragon slayer noted. "So we go back tomorrow and ask the mayor for any clue?"

Erza looked at him "Natsu, there is no reason..."

"Have you looked at the time, Erza? It's almost night." He cut her off. They'd arrived in Lorenzia by mid-day and took the monsters out. A while later they came to find any clue to their current predicament, she had hardly realized how much time passed with all this. "We're not exactly going to get far now."

"Flame brain's actually making sense for once, we technically finished the job anyway so Hope's idea is as good a start as we're going to get on this." Gray added.

"I suppose that's true. Then let's call it a day."

* * *

"So you and Natsu feeling hunger at the same time is a sign of you being a good team?" Gray asked after he and Happy listened to Erza talking about their teamwork. He supposed that since food had been the first thing on the cat's mind, this was to be expected.

"Yup! It shows we're in sync, don't you think?"

"...No, it just shows you're gluttons."

"Hey!"

But the rest, minus Rebecca who seemed a little confused, laughed at Gray's response.

"Well, it is true." Erza smiled.

Seemingly amused, Rebecca took them to a restaurant near the inn and they were able to settle down quickly. After placing their orders, she decided to ask something.

"So what's the deal with that pendant anyway?"

"That's what we all want to know," Happy replied. They gave her a brief run down about it then.

"Heeeh, so that's it, I was just thinking...Whoever made this put a lot of work into it, this thing's only going to get more uses once it's fixed."

"Fixed?" Lucy and Erza repeated.

Hope looked surprised "You can tell, Rebecca-san?"

"Just Rebecca, I'm only a year older than you and yeah, I guess I can."

"Hold on, what's this about fixing it?" Natsu looked between the two.

This was something Hope had known for a while but it was then that he'd realized he had completely forgotten to tell his friends. "It's been damaged badly before. I can't say why but I think...someone was trying to take it for themselves. He wanted to force me to tell him how to use it but...I couldn't...I knew someone very important gave it to me...I just can't remember who it was and...Ah..." He groaned, cradling his head in his hand.

He wasn't even sure where that came from. For a moment his vision seemed to blur, as if he could see himself facing a dark figure whose features he couldn't tell, before that changed and he was in a completely white place, bathed in a familiar and warm light. He felt very dizzy for a moment but his vision soon cleared.

"Hope, are you all right?"

"Y-yeah..." He took Happy's offered glass of water gratefully and drank it, unaware of the concerned looks directed at him. The water helped him clear his head and he assured them that he would be fine.

"Your memories are coming back?" Gray clarified.

He nodded, biting his lip. The troubled expression on his face clear for all to see. "But they're just flashes. It feels like it happened a long time ago and I'm not even sure what that was all about..."

"But that's a good thing! Why do you look so..."

"So who's that important person?" Natsu interjected, giving the puzzled Happy a look that said 'Drop it.'

Lucy and Erza shared a worried look as they listened to Hope "I don't know about this whole thing...I think that's the only good part in the memories though...it feels like I should know but all I see is light...I keep getting a bad feeling when I think about it sometimes."

Happy's argument died in his mouth as he realized that Hope was indirectly answering his question. The brunet gave his friends an apologetic look and shook his head, effectively telling them that he just couldn't explain it all just yet. So this was about that past of his...

"Sure you're okay though? We could just pick the food up and go to the inn." Rebecca suggested.

Hope shook his head again "I'm fine, I just need a minute."

Endymion could sense his worry but he decided to hold his tongue. He hadn't seen things from Hope's view but hearing the explanation was plenty enough for him. What really bothered him was the person who almost shattered Hope's pendant. Through his link with his host, he could sense Hope's fear of the memory. One reason being that the mysterious figure seemed to have emit nothing but malice and hate directed towards him, but why?

* * *

"A battle?" The mayor asked when the group went to check with him. "Hmm...oh! Now that you mention it, I've heard of something like this before."

"Would you please tell us what you know? Maybe if we can the basis and the reason your great grandfather cast the shield that we can find a clue about the core." Hope explained.

"That's a sound idea." The man commented. "I'm afraid I can't tell you very much, it's an old story and a vague one at that. Lorenzia was being fought over by two groups, The Randalls and the Tiberis. Supposedly the Tiberis first claimed their right to the land, and it was valid but the Randall group didn't take that lying down and they started to fight. It turned out they both had ownership rights. They were fighting hard over a treasure that's supposedly in a secret area that's rumored to be underground. I think my great grandfather was trying to stop them because all their fighting caused so much damage... Sorry if it's no help, that's all I know."

"No, not at all. I'm sure we can go somewhere with that information." Erza assured.

Natsu blinked, his face lighting up "Say, is there any old guy around here? Older than you?"

"Natsu!"

"What? I'm just saying if there is, they might know something. Gramps had all sorts of stories to tell us because he's been around for a long time, right?"

"That's true, Mr. Mayor, can you think of anyone who might know?" Hope asked.

"Well, I think David came back the day the monsters did. He's related to the Tiberi family, he might know more details."

"Now you're talking!" Gray grinned "So where is this David's house?"

* * *

"I wonder if this what detectives feel like..." Rebecca mused.

Happy looked interested at the thought "Yeah, maybe. Wonder if I should bring my detective costume next time."

Lucy raised an eye "Why do you have a detective costume?"

"Mira brought one, she thought it would look good but it turned out to be too big back then...and really stuffy..."

"Oh." She nodded.

"You know, if this is what detective work is like then I'm so glad none of us decided to be one. This is totally boring!" Natsu grumbled.

"Don't start grumbling now, Natsu. I think things just got worse."

The dragon slayer blinked at Gray's words and followed his line of sight to what he knew to be David's house according to the mayor.

The problem? It looked like it was ransacked!

* * *

"He's really gone?"

"Sure looks that way." Rebecca frowned, crossing her arms.

"That's just great! Just when things start playing out right..." Gray scowled.

"Hold on a second, think!" Lucy urged. "It's not out of our hands yet. The shield's still up. By this point, anybody would have noticed if someone found a way to break through. Meaning however this person vanished, we can still find him."

"Yup, we better get started!" Happy took out his wings.

The group split up to search the town with Happy to the skies to find anything out of the ordinary, luckily, it wasn't long before a bartender told them about a warehouse near his bar. It was never accessible before, but now it just vanished.

All they found then was a surprisingly tall set of stairs. Natsu and Hope held up a sphere of fire and light respectively the dark way for everyone and they started going down.

"This just keeps getting stranger..." Erza said. She tapped the empty space next to her and the shield flashed once more. "...To think it even extends underground."

"Seriously...what could need so much protection?" Rebecca wondered.

The answer was something none of them expected.

* * *

The first thing the group saw was massive, lush green fields. They really seemed to extend endlessly as far as they could tell. It wasn't just that either. Numerous forms of plant and wildlife were scattered. A stream ran not too far away from the place's entrance and a number of animals were drinking from it. The place seemed to be rather serene and peaceful, like a zen garden. Once you got over the surprise, it was in fact a rather beautiful scene.

"Wow..." Lucy breathed.

"This is incredible," Rebecca nodded.

"No kidding...who knew?" Gray looked around.

Natsu's eyes landed on a water horse that was happily skipping in the stream "...Hey, Hope, how come that thing looks a lot like the legendary creature from the story you told me about before we left?"

"That's because it's the real thing," Hope answered.

"But...that's a...a Kelpie, isn't it?" Lucy asked.

'It would seem so.' Endymion answered.

"Actually there seems to be quite the mass of legendary creatures," Erza's remark made them all look around the place again.

It was true. A Griffin was standing in front of a cave, two satyrs were among those playing with the Kelpie, a sphinx flew in the open space above them. A Satori was sleeping under a tree, a wyvern was eating something a fair distance from the group. And that was not even accounting half the creatures!

"Whoa, talk about out of this world..." Rebecca said.

"You said it." Happy muttered. "Hope, how the heck are you talking this so calmly?"

It was Gray who answered, having lowered his voice to avoid bringing Rebecca's attention "Well, let's think, maybe because he knows someone who'd fit right in here."

"Oh yeah...oops."

Gray was right though. Hope was completely fascinated by this place, meeting Endymion made him interested in all sorts of legends and legendary creatures and he always thought there was a chance they would be true. He glanced at Natsu, who was staring at the place with the same fascination on his face. The two shared a look, likely thinking of the two figures in their lives who would fit wonderfully here.

A loud bang sounded and a net landed on the Kelpie and hauled it out of the water.

"Wha..."

Natsu traced the net back to its source, a man with black hair and grey eyes was holding it and pulling it over to him, ignoring the Kelpie's struggles. "Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

"Hah?" The man looked at them. "How'd a bunch of brats find their way to this place?"

"Let that poor creature go right now!" Erza ordered.

He grinned lecherously at her "Normally, I wouldn't mind taking an order from hot cake like you but this time, no chance in hell. We went through way too much to get here, no way we're backing out now."

"Oi, you guys!" A man in his fifties with pale brown hair came. He seemed battered and worn out, his clothes torn in different places. "Get away from here. Those guys are from Scorpion Blade! They're trying to smuggle those creatures and sell them in a black market!"

"Scorpion Blade?" Happy repeated.

Rebecca frowned "That's a dark guild. You're David, right? Try to get away from there, things are out to get messy."

"What? But..."

"What're you waiting for, old man? She's right, get as far away from here as possible." Gray said, preparing for battle. "We can take them."

"Absolutely," Erza summoned a sword to her hand.

"Ho? So little brats like you think they can handle us? That's stupid, oy, you guys, come on and have some fun!" The man cackled.

* * *

As expected, there were plenty more Scorpion blades in the wait. Though a majority of them seemed like simple gophers, only two were actually giving some fight.

Natsu raised an eye when he saw Rebecca take out a long blue staff with a white jewel on top. "That's all you're going to use?"

"It'll do just fine." She smacked one of the bunch trying to sneak up on them on the chest, sending him flying to the ground. Natsu stared at the amount of force, dumbfounded. Rebecca grinned "Oh, did I mention then it's made of the most durable metal I could find and that the jewel is a diamond I sculpted?"

"Er, no..."

"Any complaints?"

Natsu spun around to hit two men with a Fire Dragon's claw. "Nope, none from me."

"Atta' boy!" She patted his head, ignoring the irritated look that followed. "Just go on and have your fun. Oh and before I forgot..." She raised an arm. "...Terra prison!"

A bronze spell circle flashed and the mages right above them were trapped by a ring of boulders. Natsu grinned appreciatively while Rebecca huffed "Honestly, talk about annoying..."

"Nice! You're pretty good!"

"Thanks."

Erza was facing one of the dark group's leaders, who was happened to be a swordsman going by the name of Vito. He smirked "Just give up, woman, you can't beat me!"

"Forget it! I'll never let you get away with this. How dare you endanger those creatures' lives?!"

"Hah? What're you talking about? They're just stupid animals and we're going to sell them to get us a hell of a lot of cash. That's all they're good for."

"Oi, bro!" The man from earlier was trying to deal with the sphinx, a harpie and Gray's attacks all at once. Needless to say, he was making it by the skin of his teeth. "A little help? This is too much!"

"Shut up, Yaxley, I'm a little busy here!" He bent for a moment and Erza barely had any time to wonder why when a couple of bullets headed her way. She easily deflected them, then seeing a rocky spear flying at her.

Said weapon was destroyed by a bullet that released a wave of light which took out the grunts lurking in the shadows to back Vito up.

Erza gave Hope a grateful nod before turning back to glare at her opponent. "I knew you were low but this is too much! You can't do anything without their help, can you?"

"Che..."

Yaxley tried to back away from the harpies staring him down, only for a whip to wrap itself around his midsection. "What the..."

Lucy grinned, keeping her hold on the weapon strong "Going somewhere?"

Gray snapped his fingers, freezing the man's legs in a second. Yaxley grit his teeth "All right, Dark Flare!"

A dark violet spell circle appeared around him and he was surrounded by a dark energy sphere that made him levitate over them. "Now, Dark rain!"

Numerous dark energy blasts headed towards the group facing them. Gray growled "Not on my watch, you don't. Ice make: Shield!"

"N-no way!"

Hope, Happy and Rebecca found themselves surrounded by a number of grunts staring them down.

Happy whistled "I didn't realize how many there were until now."

"Like it makes a difference." Rebecca dismissed, starting to cast another spell. "Earthshaker!"

When she struck the ground with the staff, spires of rock arose around them and the ground beneath their enemies began to shake. Hope cast Thousand Ray, taking down the first ring of enemies around them. Rebecca concentrated some magic on her staff and went forth, striking down one enemy with a blow to the shoulder before spinning her weapon and grinning in satisfaction when a tornado of energy materialized from her move to take out the grunts behind the one she knocked out. Hope jumped back to dodge a swipe from an enemy's dagger before taking her out with his own blade. He then switched to the pistol and created a big version of Maelstrom. This confused the observers until the arrow split up into smaller ones and hit the intended targets like hail.

Having thinned down the numbers by a lot, the two then conjured up a light sphere and a rock before throwing them over their partner's shoulder, taking out the two grunts trying to finish them.

"Whoa, nice work, guys!" Hope and Rebecca smiled at each other then at Happy.

Rebecca let out a little cry and hid behind Hope. The templar turned to her "What's wrong?"

"Why's Gray stripping?!" The currently red faced girl asked.

"Now there's a question...with no answer." Hope sighed.

"Aye." Happy agreed.

Gray sent Yaxley flying with his ice lances, leaving the man prone to be hit by Natsu's Fire Dragon Sword Horn. Erza summoned a sheathed sword, striking Vito with it a few times before slashing him with her unsheathed blade.

The barely conscious man then noticed the fairy tail marks on Gray's chest and Natsu's shoulder. "Whoa, you're from Fairy tail?! That clears up a few things..." Summoning the last of his strength, Vito threw a smoke bomb he had in his pocket, successfully blinding the observers. He pulled Yaxley up they tried to get away, only to feel themselves overwhelmed by a magic wave that forced to stay in place.

"Hey, they're trying to run too!" Gray said, bringing attention to the grunts who managed to stand up.

"Leave that to me. Gate of the Maiden, I open thee, Virgo!" Lucy chanted, summoning the dainty pink haired spirit.

"Is it time for punishment, Princess?"

"Yup, for them! Do whatever you can to make sure they can't escape!"

"Understood." And with that Virgo had all the traps fall into holes she created in a short time.

"All right!"

* * *

"Well, it's just lucky you kids were here. I don't want to think of the consequences of everyone here having to fight them off alone." David said, glancing at the beaten dark guild members.

"So they came and took you because you knew about this place?" Gray asked.

He nodded "I'm not sure how they found out but yes. This place was the reason my family fought with the Randalls. Supposedly there was a spring of water with great healing powers right here. The fights stopped when the mayor of that time cast the shield to keep them away from here. He thought the inhabitants of this place deserved to live in peace. Unfortunately, the spring had dried up by then so their fights were very much pointless."

"That's a shame though. They could have just worked together and things would have been just fine." Rebecca remarked

"My thoughts exactly. I'm not sure if there's a chance the water will reappear again but I intend to watch over this place anyway."

"Good to know."

Lucy patted the Kelpie's head, taking comfort in the fact the place's dwellers seemed to have warmed up to them. "Yup, they definitely deserve to live in peace."

"Say, didn't you say that this is where the core was? I don't see anything like that." Happy told David.

"Well..." The man stiffened, looking at the metallic sphere lying next to a tree. "...Oh no."

"Come to think of it, isn't that what happened when that Vito guy got crashed near here?" Rebecca asked.

Erza noticed the shield beginning to fade away. "Oh no...this is..."

Hope picked up the sphere and with a moment of thought, began concentrating his magic on it. It resonated with the tiny amounts of magic left from the shield and merged with it. The boy then cast the spell to reverse the time on the item, Rescindo wave. It was the equivalent of Athena's veil but it only worked on inanimate objects.

Hope stopped when the sphere let out a pulse of energy before it floated up and out of his hand and settled in a small circular hole in the wall, obviously made for it. The shield then returned to what it was.

David smiled "You're a templar! That's brilliant. I've gotten used to how this thing works over the years. Let me see if it needs any fine tuning..."

"You know, Igneel would like this place." Natsu mused, leaving David to do his thing. "Wonder if they know anything about him."

"Oh come on, there's no way..." Gray began.

"Igneel?" One of the wyverns approached them. "As in the Fire Dragon King?"

"You can talk?!" Gray, Happy and Lucy exclaimed.

"That's him!" Natsu said, sounding relieved. "So you know where he is?"

"Well, we haven't seen him in years." was the answer. "He's been here a couple of times though. I heard he's taken an apprentice, so that's you?"

"Yup, that's me! He practically raised me, but he just up and vanished and I'm trying to find him."

The wyvern tilted its head curiously "Well, I'm not sure why but I remember hearing him mention something about needing to prepare for something. Can't say what exactly. But it's been years since he's been around these parts." Natsu's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Tell you what, kid. Since you worked so hard to help us, I can keep an eye out for him, see what I can find."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure, it's the least I can do to repay you. If I hear anything, you'll be the first to know."

"Awesome, thanks!" Natsu grinned.

* * *

The feeling of relief was immense when it turned out that the shield over Lorenzia was gone. The mayor graciously thanked Team Natsu and Rebecca, offering the latter a reward she happily accepted. They agreed that the mayor and David would keep quiet about the preserve for the most part, only getting help from people they can trust.

With everything settled, the group headed out of the city.

"So you're going back home, huh?" asked Rebecca.

"Yeah, I know you're going the other way but why don't you come over to Magnolia when you can? We'll be sure to give you the grand tour." Lucy said.

"You know, I think I'll do that. Then I'll get to see what Fairy tail's really like."

Hope smiled "Then it's a promise."

"Yup, see you then." She left.

"Can't wait to see her reaction when she gets a load of the guild." Gray then remembered something. "Oi, so what about the bet?"

'What are you talking about? It's void.' Endymion said.

"What? Why?"

'Last time I checked, you and Natsu sent that man into the core, which must have been hit by remains from your magic.'

The ice mage stopped when he realized that was true.

Natsu sighed "Oh great, why'd you have to get my in way?"

"Hah? You were the one who butted in!"

"You're even stupider than I thought if you think that's true."

"This coming from you!? It's true anyway, you're the one who forced his way in!"

"All right, that's enough!" Erza stated, making the two stiffen.

"I guess it is true, old habits die hard." Happy remarked.

"Not in this case." Hope countered.

Lucy nodded "Let's leave those three to it and get the train tickets home."

* * *

_And that's a wrap!_

_An introduction to a new OC! I don't like using too many of them because I'd have trouble handling them all but Rebecca's important to my plot. I hope you liked her!_

_If anyone's confused about the creatures of the preserve, just look them up in Wikipedia, they're all there. _

_On another note, my little sister's writing a Harry Potter and Naruto crossover called Powerful Beauty. She goes by storyecho71, I hope you could take some time to check it out._


	20. Chapter 20

_Hey, I'm back!_

_hey-im-a-nerd: Your namesake? Cool! What are the odds? Anyway, glad I caught your interest. She'll be making a comeback after this arc is over so just wait and see what happens._

_Now without further ado, I'll be starting the Oracion Seis arc, there isn't much action in this chapter but it's all necessary to lead up the next one. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

"You're seriously still worrying about the rent? Talk about somethings never getting old." Gray remarked.

"What do you expect me to do?" Lucy moaned.

Juvia looked confused. "Didn't you just go on a job the other day, Lucy-san? You said the reward would be enough."

"Yeah, there's a slight problem there." Gray informed.

"Problem?"

"Well, how do I put it? Oh who am I kidding! Juvia, there's only one reason..." Lucy began.

"Natsu." She and Gray finished.

Juvia stiffened when she noticed them in sync. Noticing this and not wanting to deal with another Love Rival rant, Lucy lifted the magazine in front of her. The water mage saw that it had an article on Natsu and her eyes widened as she skimmed it "...Natsu-san actually destroyed over half a town on a job once?"

"Yup, no surprise you don't know. You haven't been around him as much as we have. That guy's as destructive as he is irritating." Gray grunted.

Lucy sweatdropped. It figured that he of all people would say something like that. "I'm not sure you're comparing right here..."

"Juvia's confused. Juvia heard Lucy-san complain about the rent but it was never like this week. Did Natsu-san get carried away or something?"

"Nope," it was Gray who answered this time. "It's actually because of Hope. It's hard work but he pretty much got the hang of toning down the trouble at our jobs."

"Though you'd think said trouble..." Lucy glared at the ice mage. "...would have the decency to stop overdoing it and making things difficult."

Gray had the grace to look guilty "Ah, yeah...it just ends up like that...we do try to fix it."

Juvia knew that Hope had been ill at the beginning of the week and was currently resting at home. Happy had mentioned something about him needing a break and now she was really starting to see why. "...Juvia sees why working like that would be tiring. Lucy-san has Juvia's sympathy."

"Thanks..."

"Gray-sama, do you think you can come with me?" Juvia added.

"Eh, it's not going to be anything like last time, right? Besides, shouldn't you be getting to what you wanted to talk to Lucy about from the start?"

Juvia blinked "Oh, right! Erza-san wants to know if this..." She took a job request from her pocket. "...could help with Lucy-san's rent problem."

Lucy looked up at the paper. "That's it!"

* * *

The job ended up being a part time as waiters at 8-Island, a restaurant run by Makarov's friend and former Fairy tail member, Yajima.

Happy, who had stopped to take a bite of the fish he'd brought along, jumped when a bang reached his ears. He peeked in the kitchen and found Natsu holding his head and laying against the wall while and an angry Erza glared down at him. "...What did he do now?"

"He ate an order this time," Lucy walked in with a sigh. He was able to restrain himself the last time and just sniffed the food but it seemed that was as far as he could get. "So Erza's taking it into her hands."

When the redhead took the next order, they swore her expression turned a complete 180. She was now smiling pleasantly at the customers, who seemed just as happy to see her, inwardly marveling at her beauty.

"I'm starting to wonder if she's a little too into this..." Happy mumbled.

"Maybe, who would've thought she'd do a job like this so well, huh?" Lucy tilted her head a bit.

"Really..."

Natsu sat up with a groan "Man that hurt..."

"You were asking for it, you know." Lucy said, putting a plate down.

"I was hungry! It's not my fault I lost my lunch..." Natsu grumbled. _(AN: The team came on a train. Enough said.)_

"You know, a little patience goes a long way. If I had to pick between going hungry for a while and dealing with Erza in a right mood, I pick going hungry." Lucy stated.

"I would too." Happy added, taking a couple of plates and flying up to put them in the sink. He flew to peek out the into the hall. "...You know it's a good thing Juvia never came like she wanted to."

"Eh? Why?" Natsu said, wondering why he'd bring that out of the blue.

Happy pointed outside and Natsu followed his line of sight to see Gray taking orders from two girls who were obviously hitting on him. Gray seemed to be trying to ignore that to the best of his ability. Yeah, they didn't need Juvia giving her usual reactions at girls trying to talk to the ice mage.

"Come on, guys, we still have an hour left before the time limit's over." Lucy said.

* * *

"So why are you still wearing that again?" Gray asked Erza, who hadn't taken the waitress outfit off even after their shift was over.

Natsu, who checked that it was okay this time, was happily eating the food Yajima offered. The restaurant owner watched them bemusedly, he was a short man around Makarov's age with tanned skin, thick gray eyes brows that covered his eyes and a similarly thick mustache.

"Well, I see you're just like Makarov says."

"Yajima-san, if you work here, what about the council?" Erza asked.

"The council?!" Natsu and Gray exclaimed.

Lucy looked at them "You didn't know? Yajima-san is a chairman of the council."

"No one told us that!" People sometimes presume that Natsu and Gray fight so much because of their opposite natures but those who knew them well could say otherwise. They were similar to each other in some aspects, though they'd never agree to that.

Neither noticed that they had matching freaked out expressions at this point.

"Actually, I'm a former chairman. After the tower of heaven disaster, the council dissolved." Yajima informed. "I'm sorry about that time by the way, we gave you a lot of grief."

"Don't say that. It wasn't your fault." Erza replied.

"Right, we know you argued against Etherion firing to the end." Lucy added.

"Well, I was ashamed by how they handled things so I left. It worked out well, I'm a better cook than I was a chairman!" Yajima chirped. "By the way, Natsu-kun, Gray-kun..."

"Y-yes?!"

Happy laughed at their expressions.

"A new council formed, which means I won't be there to speak up for Fairy tail. Make sure you behave in a way that keeps that in mind."

"We will!" Natsu said immediately.

* * *

"Erza, I just realized I completely forgot to ask about the spare..."

"Don't worry, I know where it is. It's hardly the first time I went there."

Lucy smiled "Oh good! Let's go then."

Gray raised an eye at the two, they had just left Magnolia station and Lucy was visibly pleased about fixing the rent problem. But no one had mentioned had anything else. "You got any plans we should know about?"

"We're going to visit Hope. You can come along if you want." Erza replied.

"Sure why not?"

It turns out that they didn't need a spare, as they found out when Happy chanced using the bell to see if anyone would answer. It was Levy who did, to their surprise, moments later.

"Hey guys!"

"Levy! What are you..."

"Same thing you're doing of course," she cut Happy off, stepping back to let them in before leading them to a room near the stairs and opening its door."Hey, Hope, guess who?"

The boy looked up from the book he was reading and smiled.

* * *

"I see you're doing well."

Hope nodded to Erza's statement "I feel much better. Grandpa says this was one overdue break."

"And he's right, you looked like you needed it."

Happy looked around the room, it was the same as usual. Not too messy with the walls done in nice shades of pale yellow and blue with some white near the ground. with the bed in the corner near the window. He was sitting on the table right next to the bed with a book close to him. It took him a moment to remember that this was Lucy's birthday present. "So how's the brain storming going?"

"Not too good but I didn't expect much from the first try." Levy glanced at the pendant. "Whoever made it really went all out. It's really complicated. You know, Hope just finished describing a place from his dreams that sounds exactly like Soleanna."

"Wait, so you were there before!" Happy exclaimed, remembering their conversation about this with Loke. (_AN: Chapter 11) _

"That's what it looks like but I don't get how...There were even details from the inside too. Besides..." Hope trailed off.

"Besides?"

That light he saw in his vision when they were in Lorenzia...he had a strong feeling it had something to do with Soleanna...and with himself too. He wished he could remember why that was. Hope was actually used to seeing it, that light had come up in his dreams at times too. He just didn't know how to explain that to them.

"Say, Hope?" He blinked and looked at Gray. "I've been wondering but how come you never went back to Aetheria? You could find some answers to your memories there."

"Well, it's not like I tried too hard to remember. There's nothing for me there. Besides, Demon Fang, remember?"

"Oh yeah..."

"Demon Fang, isn't that the dark guild that..." Lucy began, turning to Hope.

It was Endymion who answered 'They're the reason Hope and I ended up like this. Makarov warned us that a number of them were templars in high places and they had some support from certain people in Aetheria. We heard two of the former members broke out of prison and they went back there recently. I don't think they know much about Hope but we can't take any chances. Who knows what they're up to...'

"Wait, you mean some people there are actually okay with what they did to you?" The blond said, looking as appalled as she felt.

'It would seem so. Hope was brought to Fiore mainly because of the war some of the nobles started as they tried to decide who would rule Aetheria. There wasn't anymore news from the person who sent Hope here either.'

Lucy had already been cleared on the fact that Makarov had adopted Hope into their family by Happy. Endymion's words reminded her of something that had been bothering her for a while though. "But then what about your family, Hope? You never said anything about them."

"Who cares about them? Come on, they walked out on Hope when he was 6 for crying out loud." Natsu scowled.

Lucy's mouth fell "What?!" Her heart went out to her teammate then. She might not have had the best relationship with her father at this point but things were all right with them for a while and they were great when her mother was alive. But Hope was abandoned when he was so young...she couldn't imagine what that was like. "S-sorry," she said, finding her voice then.

Hope shook his head "It's fine. I think you see what I mean when I say that there's nothing for me to go back to in Aetheria."

* * *

"Jeez..." An irritated Gray pushed Natsu near the window of the coach they were riding. The fire mage was as motion sick as ever and he immediately knelt against it with his head out.

"...Remind me again why you can't freeze him to get through this." Erza said, looking at Hope.

"It won't do any good. He'll still be that sick the second I stop the spell even if we're on still land."

"How you guys are so calm about this is beyond me..." Lucy admitted.

"Well, it's not a picnic for us either. We gotta do what we gotta do." Gray said simply.

Makarov had gone to a guild meeting where it was decided that the guilds would make an alliance to take down a powerful dark guild known as Oracion Seis, part of the Balam Alliance. Members of certain guilds were chosen and were going to converge in a location set by the guild masters.

"If this is such a big deal then why didn't he send someone like Gajeel or Juvia? I mean if this guild is making such a scene with only seven members then they're clearly strong." Lucy mumbled.

"They were busy with their own jobs. So it's just us, the usual gang," Happy said.

"I like it better that way." Gray said and Erza nodded.

* * *

As it turns out, they were the first to arrive at the destination which was a mansion in the middle of a forest.

"Still...members of different guilds working together. This is turning out to be large scale." Happy commented.

Lucy nodded, sitting down on the couch. "I wonder what those people are even up to, for it to warrant all this..."

"We'll find out when we do. No use worrying about things now." Natsu said.

Erza noticed that Hope wore the same absentminded expression he had on their way here. She suddenly had an idea of what was troubling him. Hope started as she flicked him on the forehead with a finger but she spoke before he could say anything "We've been through this, remember? There's no reason to worry about you slowing us down. Weak body or not, as long as you try your best, you'll do just fine. What you should be doing is..."

"...concentrate and put my heart in it. Help out as much as possible and leave no regrets, right?" Hope finished, smiling.

"Exactly," the knight mage said, smiling back.

'It'll be just like the usual requests. I watch your back, you watch mine.' Endymion added, keeping his thoughts between him and his host.

'Yeah, thanks, Endymion.' Hope replied, doing the same.

"Well, I don't see Hope slowing us down..." Happy began.

"Totally, if anything would do that it'll be this guy causing trouble." Gray agreed, turning to Natsu.

"Oh yeah?! Well I say you'd do that, ice princess!"

"Hah? I'm not the one who destroyed half a town just to force a monster out!"

Happy rolled his eyes as he watched them bicker. "That wasn't what I had in mind but forget it."

"Yeah, once those two get going it was bound to end up like this..." Lucy remarked. "Say, Hope?" The boy looked at her. "So, you said don't remember much of anything about Aetheria but how did you end up in Fiore?"

"I'm not really sure. I remember wandering around a street when someone found me. He sent me to stay with a friend of his until he could be sure it was safe for me to get back." He began.

"So what, didn't he check up on you?" Happy saw Hope shake his head. "Eh, why?"

"...Something happened a while after he left me there. And...he might have thought it was true..." Hope trailed off, seemingly getting an idea then.

'...I think that's enough of that subject.' Endymion's sentence made the listeners start and see how Hope held on to the pendant with a troubled look, making them realize how hard this was for him to talk about.

"Hope, it's fine if you don't want to talk about it." Erza said.

"Yeah, no more on that subject." Lucy nodded quickly. She was curious and knew they were too but none of them wanted to force him. Because of their curiosity, the group sometimes forgot how much the past was a sore subject to Hope._  
_

Hope saw the pendant glow for a moment and for some reason he felt his chest grow lighter. Like something was telling him everything would be all right, but what was that? He shook himself, knowing he wouldn't get an answer anytime soon. "S-sorry, I keep thinking it would be all right but..."

"Don't worry about it. If you don't feel like saying it then don't," Gray sat down.

"Yeah, Lucy's just being nosy." Happy added.

"Excuse me?! You were asking too!" The blonde protested. The cat must have ignored her, because he went to grab a fish from his bag and started eating then.

"Any reason for the sudden interest?" Hope asked.

"Ah, a little...I just thought knowing the White Paladin's origins might be interesting. You know how much rumors they cooked up about you?" Lucy asked.

"Not really but I'd gather they're about as interesting as the rumors about you."

She cringed inwardly "Don't remind me...hey, don't laugh!" She gave him a light shove as she saw him stifling a laugh, likely at the face she was making. She took it as a good sign though, at least whatever bothered him seemed to have gone.

"Well, about the origins part...I'm not even sure what to say," Hope admitted, what with his missing memories and all. Besides, there was a particular period in his past that he did not under any circumstances want to talk or think about. There wasn't any reason he couldn't mention anything else though.

"Ask away, Lucy."

* * *

"Heeh, and you really beat the majority of Naked Mummy to help your father?"

"She did," Natsu answered. "Turns out he actually came later so there wasn't any need for that."

"Don't say it like that. Lucy did help the hostages out. He must have appreciated the effort." Hope said.

"Yup, I think he did." the celestial mage gave him a grateful look. "At least one thing played out well after all. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the story where you stopped the avalanche from getting to the village."

Hope smiled a bit "That makes two of us...it just happened."

"I wish I was there to see you guys beat that sea serpent up. It sounds brilliant!" Happy said, recalling the story about Hope and Endymion stopping said monster from terrorizing a port town and feeding on the fish in the area, attacking fishermen and destroying their boats.

"That was Endymion's idea, actually..." Hope trailed off.

'It wasn't anything special though. We just happened to be there in the right place and time.' The phoenix added.

"How come you stuck on that story?" Gray asked curiously.

"You need to ask? The fish." Natsu deadpanned.

Gray rolled his eyes "Of course..."

"You guys don't get it! That town's fish was super famous and they said a new type came to their sea by that time. Hope, did you try it?" Happy asked curiously.

Hope sighed, looking a bit green as he remembered "Unfortunately..."

"That bad?" Happy received a nod.

"Here we are!" A new voice said.

Everyone turned to the stairs to find three young men wearing black suits standing there. One wore a blue shirt with his suit, he had messy brown hair and dark eyes. The second had tan skin with black hair and eyes. The third, who seemed to be the youngest, had dark blond hair and grey eyes.

"Hello, our guests from Fairy tail!" The first said, giving a charming smile.

"Very nice to see you!" The third continued.

"Right this way." The second said.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Fairy tail, it is a pleasure to meet you! We're Blue Pegasus' representatives, The Trimens!"

"Hundred Nights Hibiki!" The brown haired one said.

"Holy Night Eve!" The blond one added.

"Silent Night Ren!" The dark haired one said.

"What's with all the posing?" Happy muttered, but the three continued flirting with the girls with as much vigor as before.

"So our guests have arrived?" A new voice asked.

"Ichiya-sama!" The Trimens exclaimed, looking at the man standing near the staircase. He was short, with reddish hair in a white suit and dark shoes.

"I-Ichiya?" Erza repeated.

"It has been a while, Erza-san." He descended the stairs. "My honey! Ichiya is here, at your service!"

"My honey?!" Natsu, Lucy and Happy exclaimed.

"I _know _that's not right." Gray said with a raised eye.

"This won't end well..." Hope muttered.

"Oi, why's Erza shaking?" Natsu wondered as the man jumped towards her.

"Oh, our apologies!" Eve said.

"We didn't know you were Sensei's girlfriend!" Hibiki added.

"I am definitely not his girl friend!" Erza snapped.

Hope sighed "Sorry in advance." He froze the man and settled him down.

"This actually warrants you using your magic like that? It must be bad..." Happy remarked.

"Considering Erza punched him across a street the last time he tried that, I'd say so," was all he said to that as he cancelled his spell on the man.

"Definitely..." Lucy could understand why she would. The man was creepy.

But it seemed that Ichiya still hadn't learned his lesson anyway for he wasted no time in jumping her again. The now angry knight mage kicked him with enough force to send him to the door.

"You let him go too soon." Natsu told Hope, who looked sheepish as he thought the same thing.

"_Way_ too soon." Happy added.

"Men!" Ichiya cried out as he flew.

Someone caught the man's head and froze it before letting him drop to the ground. Two figures stood at the door, one was a young man with white hair wearing a white jacket with a red tunic with black and white pants and dark shoes.

"Well, this is some greeting..."

"Lyon!" Gray exclaimed.

The newcomer's eyes widened "Gray?!"

"Hey, you joined a guild?" Natsu asked.

He began to reply, only to be cut off by Ren "What are you doing to Sensei?!"

"That's just cruel!" Eve added.

"All the men should just leave." Hibiki stated.

"There's a woman here too by the way." A woman with pink hair and blue eyes in a light pink dress and matching shoes stepped out from behind Lyon.

"Sherry!" Lucy's eyes widened.

"Oh, so we meet again." The woman said coolly.

Hope tilted his head a little "Say, Happy, are they..."

"Yup, they're the ones we had to fight in Galuna Island." The cat said with a nod. "Lyon wanted to resurrect Deliora so he can beat the monster he thought Ur couldn't and it turned out Deliora was already dead."

"That was a long time ago." Lyon said.

"That's right, I have been reborn for the sake of love so please forget who I've been in the past." Sherry agreed.

Lyon looked around and raised an eye "I see the group from last time. Who's the kid?"

"I'm Hope. It's nice to meet you, everyone."

The ice mage looked surprised, not expecting to be addressed so politely. He watched his fellow ex-pupil nudge the brunet and hiss "Oi, you don't have to be so nice to them!"

"Eh? But Erza said we're supposed to be improving relations. And this isn't too different from how I usually do things."

The knight mage seemed to completely agree, judging by the annoyed look she was giving Gray. He had been very polite with them when he joined Fairy tail and it was only their assurances that it would be fine to be casual with them that made him tone it down.

"Nice to see someone with some manners in that bunch." Sherry commented.

"It seems you've haven't changed." A man joined Lyon and Sherry at the door. He was bald with brown eyes. His bare chest was covered somewhat with dark belts diagonally, a mantle covered his shoulders. Tight green armbands covered most of his arm, a long loincloth was on his waist, held up by a belt. He also wore fur boots.

Hope smiled "Jura-san!"

"It's nice to see you again, Hope-dono." The man smiled back.

"It's nice to see you too."

"So who's that?" asked Gray.

It was Lyon who answered "This is Jura Neekis, Lamia Scale's ace and wizard saint."

"Wizard saint?!"

"Indeed I am. It's good to meet you all." Jura replied.

"Jura-san, how do you know that kid?" Lyon asked.

"We met when we happened to pick up the same request. Hope-dono was a big help in getting it done."

The templar shook his head "You're exaggerating. You did most of the work anyway."

"I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's a shame you don't see your abilities for their worth." was Jura's response.

"Now it's just Cait Shelter's representatives..." Erza glanced at the door.

"Actually, I hear they're only sending one person." Hibiki remarked.

"Eh? For real?"

"How strong is this guy?" Lucy wondered.

* * *

Sherry watched Ichiya go off to the bathroom and leaned back "The Fairies have six people, Blue Pegasus has four and we have three. Of course that's all we need."

"Hey, how come I wasn't counted?" Happy sulked.

Hope picked him up "Well, she'd have it wrong either way. We know that and that's what counts."

The cat grinned, knowing he actually meant that they had 8 on their team but that wasn't something they planned on advertising. "True that. You've traveled a lot. You know Cait Shelter? Because I never heard of that guild."

Hope was about to answer but then he felt something warm against his chest and looked down to see that the pendant was glowing. Happy's eyes widened "Hey, so there's a shard nearby!"

"...No." Hope said, this proved true a moment later when the glow faded. "There was one at least. But..."

"What's wrong?"

Hope wasn't sure how to put it but something felt wrong. '...Endymion, can you look around the building?'

'I'm on it.' The phoenix stiffened in surprise. '...We have a problem, Hope.'

* * *

"Oi, what gives, kid?" Ren demanded.

Before they quite knew it, Hope had created a sphere of light to take them all away from the villa. They were all floating above said building now. Hope sent an energy beam at the place before going on to cast another spell.

Erza noticed the golden color of his eyes "Hold on, what did you see?"

"See? What do you..."

"Hope has the ability to extend his sight to great distances. He's also learned to see through plenty of illusions. If he says something's wrong, it's wrong."

Hope stepped back, revealing a sphere that turned into a square shape, almost like a screen. It then displayed an image of the villa. "This should let you see it from my viewpoint."

They came closer and the screen changed, revealing Ichiya walking back to the hall. But then Ichiya's image blurred for a moment before revealing two little blue creatures in his place.

"What the..." Everyone stared in shock and bewilderment.

"What are those things?" asked Sherry.

Lyon's eyes narrowed "Impostors from the looks of it."

"Yeah, the real Ichiya-san is over there." Hope turned around and the sphere's image changed to a place out the villa. Ichiya was bound and gagged under a large tree.

"Senpai!" The trimens exclaimed.

Gray scowled "So they got him." He looked at Hope. "Guessing you've got a plan so they don't know we figured them out?"

The templar nodded "There are light clones of us in there keeping up the act now." He moved his hand forward and the sphere started floating towards Ichiya's location.

* * *

"So they snuck up on you on your way back..."

"Indeed! Men, I will not forgive those cowards!" Ichiya stated, standing up once Eve untied him.

"More importantly, do you know what they were? Or what they wanted?" Erza asked.

"I'm afraid..."

"Hey, guys, look!" Lucy pointed at the screen where a number of dark figures were sneaking along the villa's halls to where the clones where. One of them was talking to the fake Ichiya. "So there's more of them?"

"Oracion Seis must have gotten some help from other dark guilds. So they're trying to ambush us..." Jura trailed off. "...Hope-dono, can your clones fight?"

"I think so. I never had to use them for something like this before..." He'd ask Endymion, who was the one manipulating the clones but it was taking a lot of the phoenix's concentration to pull it off and he didn't want to distract him. They were now just a few feet from the villa since it was necessary to keep the trick up and Hope had cast a shield that would fool everyone who looked their way into thinking that there was nothing there.

"Then we can just go take them down before they find out about them, right?" Natsu asked.

It was Gray who answered "Nah, we're probably too far for that. How much do those guys know about us to pull this off anyway?"'

"This is a little too strange..." Jura mused.

"Yeah, if Oracion Seis is that strong then what are they sending people like that for?" Lucy said, frowning in thought.

"It means they're just underestimating us," Sherry huffed.

"I don't know..." Happy flew over.

Natsu looked at him "Hey, where were you?"

"Hope asked me to look around the area. It's a little hard because of the trees but there's a group of Scorpion Blade mages traveling together not too far from here. I think they're looking for something..."

"Something?"

"Yeah, but I think they found it. They just took off, those guys on the screen had the Scorpion blade mark too, right?"

"Well, one thing's clear then. We should..." Hibiki stopped when he saw the screen's image change and turned to Hope. "...What are you looking for now?"

"Cait Shelter's delegate. This was just an idea I had for emergencies but I didn't want to have to use it so soon. We left them out."

"You're right. This a problem. They could have run into those dark mages...It looks like we're going to have to speed the plan up."

"Well, there's no sense in sticking around. Let's do something about those mages! Then we can find out where their base is." Eve suggested.

"Sounds good, Happy, you know where they are?" Natsu asked.

"No. Just the direction they went...we can use some of the guys in the villa, right?'

"Yeah, just a sec." Gray said. He aimed an ice knuckle at a spot near the villa where one of the balcony where one of the clones came out with one of the scorpion grunts trying to take it down.

The mage started as he heard the ice shatter "What was that?"

Endymion willed the clone to push him before Hope cast a Star Shield that trapped him then.

Gray grinned "Perfect."

* * *

It turned out that the mage didn't know much about the base's whereabouts, only their group's leader did and he wasn't even in the villa. As expected, the group inside the villa was meant to ambush them and keep them in there while the bunch Happy saw was supposed to search the Woodsea for something.

"Then we just have to find their boss..."

"Hah, don't bother." The grunt said. "You guys are a joke."

"What was that?!" Natsu demanded.

"You heard me! I've seen what Oracion Seis can do and frankly, you don't stand a chance against them. Not sure why they're not dealing..." He stopped because Lyon chose to freeze his mouth then. He went on to create ice cuffs to bind him fully before turning to the others.

"We hardly have time to listen to this idiot. Now let's go."

* * *

"Is it okay to have split up? We did make that alliance for a reason..." Lucy said. It was Team Natsu with Hibiki and Eve on one side while the rest had gone on another. They had agreed to meet up in an hour.

"You worry too much, Lucy. We got this." Natsu stated.

"We do need to find the scorpion blade grunt leader or if we're lucky, we might find the base. Hope's distant vision can drain him if he keeps it running for too long." Gray reminded.

"Oh right..."

"Hard to believe you're actually going to bomb their base. I didn't think any guild would take this kind of measure." Happy admitted.

"They're just that dangerous. That's why the council approved." Eve responded.

The plan was to use Blue Pegasus' airship Christina to bomb Oracion Seis' base. The fact that the enemy hired some dark guilds was surprising but no more less of a setback.

Hope saw Natsu stop running "Is something wrong?"

"Shh!" The dragon slayer put a finger over his mouth. "Can't you hear that?"

The boy blinked and followed him to stand behind a tree. A number of men and women came out of the bushes on the opposite side. Happy recognized them as the second group of Scorpion blade mages he had seen earlier.

"Man, I didn't think the job would turn out to be like that."

"Don't complain, you idiot. We could have done worse, they've already paid us."

"What do you think they want with some coffin anyway?"

"You heard that lady, it's none of our business. We got more than we came for anyway." A man lifted what seemed like a cage.

"Guess so, if it's just us now then I bet you the others already found what they were supposed to."

"That's the best news I heard all day. I don't know about you but those guys freak me out. They really are too strong..."

"Really?" The speaker started and turned to see Natsu and Gray walk out of the bushes. "If they freak you out then we're going to give you a heart attack."

* * *

"White Out!"

Eve's spell trapped the group trying to ambush him under waves of snow. A couple of women who managed to dodge the spell tried to free them with their fire magic. One was surprised by a strike from Lucy's whip which left her open for the second attack that sent her down and out. The other sent out a fire wave at Lucy to retaliate only to have Natsu eat the flame and take her out.

Four ax wielding mages attempted to charge at Gray and Hope while one behind them began casting a spell. Gray ducked and punched one in the gut, sending him reeling before dodging the other one's swipe and freezing his head.

Hope sidestepped the axes swinging his way before slashing the attackers arms, making them howl in pain and drop the weapons. His sword started to glow and he waved it in a semi circle to send them both flying towards the mage behind them, knocking him out. He then noticed a cage rolling from the mage's side...

The remaining mages tried to get the others by gathering their earth magic to cause a rock slide but Erza stopped that plan cold by destroying all the rocks with her swords before re-equipping into her Flight Armor and defeating them with Sonic Claw.

"I think that's the last of them..." Erza stopped when she saw the cage and decided it to cut the door in half with a couple of slices of her dagger.

"Ugh, it's about time this thing stopped moving..." A voice from inside the cage said and a figure stepped out. It was a snow white cat with brown eyes wearing a yellow and pink top with a red dress and pink bow tie and another at the end of her tail.

"A talking cat?" Hibiki glanced at Happy before turning to her.

"Carla!" Everyone looked at Hope, who seemed surprised at the sight of her.

The cat's eyes widened "Hope! I finally found a chance for some help."

"Help? What..." He stopped, seemingly realizing something. His expression quickly grew alarmed "...Wait a second, if you're here then Cait Shelter's delegate is..."

"Yeah, it's Wendy. Oracion Seis kidnapped her!"

* * *

_I think I'll leave it at that._

_Hey, it's my first cliffhanger! What do you think of the spin I put in here? I really wanted to try something a little different and this came to mind. Was it good? _

_I'll show what happened with the other group next chapter but first will be Wendy's introduction. See ya next time!_


	21. Chapter 21

_Hey, my first double update, sweet!_

_Happy: You really like what you do, huh?_

_You bet I do! _

_Happy: Authors are supposed to show what they write to everyone, right?_

_Sure they are._

_Happy: Well then, how come Lucy won't show us her novel?_

_Maybe because she doesn't think it's ready. I've done something like that before too. Some authors want their authors to be the best it can possibly be before letting people read it._

_Happy: Gotcha. Makes sense._

_Now then, disclaimer please? _

_Happy: Aye sir! Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail. The only things she owns is her plot and OCs. _

_Thanks Happy. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

"W-where am I?"

A girl with dark blue hair and chocolate brown eyes wearing a yellow, blue and white dress with blue shoes sat up to find herself in a dark cave.

"So, you're awake?"

A man with tan skin and white hair and dark eyes holding a staff stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" She asked. "What do you want with me?"

"We need your power. Sky Sorceress, Wendy Marvell."

She remembered her and Carla being ambushed by dark mages on their way to the meeting point, it didn't take much to figure out that the man before her was not someone she would want anything to do with. "I won't help you for anything!"

He smirked "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."

Wendy looked confused. "I'm Brain, the leader of Oracion Seis." This confirmed part of her suspicions. Wendy said nothing, watching him walk past her. "I've come across a...surprise." He stopped near a coffin.

* * *

After Carla explained how she and Wendy were on their way to the villa when they were ambushed by the Scorpion blade mages and someone she couldn't see froze her. Wendy had been trying to help her when the dark mages took the opportunity to knock them both out. The alliance regrouped soon without much incident and both sides were brought up to speed, finding that Scorpion Blade wasn't the only dark guild here. Hibiki took the opportunity to show them what he knew about the members of Oracion Seis.

"So the kid's trying to find their base now?" Lyon wondered, glancing at Hope, who was standing not too far away from the group with his eyes closed.

"The clones did a good job of fooling them so far, right?" Eve wondered.

"I think so. At least the mages don't have any idea it isn't us." Jura replied. "Which is why we should capitalize on this chance, find their base and save Wendy-dono."

"Ne, Lucy?" The blonde looked at Happy, who was holding a fish with an unusually shy expression. He glanced at Carla, who was standing near Hope, clearly wishing he'd find the base quickly. "Can you give her this fish?"

Natsu raised an eye "Can't you do that yourself?"

"Y-yeah, but..."

"Oh, I get it!" Lucy grinned. "Love at first sight, eh? It only works if you make your move alone."

"You know, I've always wanted to try this once." A smirk settled on Gray's face then. "You llllliiiike her!"

Natsu and Lucy burst out laughing at this point while Happy looked scandalized. "Hey, you're copying me?! And you roll it a lot more than I did!"

Lucy shook her head when she saw that Carla had flatly refused Happy's offering, feeling bad when she saw his disappointed expression. Well, she supposed it couldn't be so easy. Maybe she would help him out with this later.

Carla started when she saw Hope's expression growing pained, as if he was having trouble keeping his concentration. The boy began swaying a little in his place and she took out her wings to steady him before he fell. "Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah..." He stood, barely noticing the others approaching. "...I haven't found the base but it's at least not anywhere for miles. Something keeps blocking the way every time I go further. I think it's at least southwest of here, a bunch of those dark mages were going in that direction."

"So we're that far off..." Sherry trailed off.

"Hang on Hope, nothing blocked your sight before. What could that be?" Happy asked.

"I'm not sure..."

Hibiki crossed his arms with a thoughtful look "Still that's a start. Did you see anything else?"

"Yeah, but it was just for a second...I think it was some sort of white shadow and it looked like a horse..."

The members of Blue Pegasus looked startled and Hibiki added "Are you sure?"

Hope began to speak but then a shadow flew over them and they looked up to see a wide ship flying over them. It fit Hope's description. The ship the Blue Pegasus mark.

"Whoa..."

"That's yours?" Lucy asked Eve. "But then it would have to be..."

"Yeah, that's Christina, the bomber we were going to use. But how..."

They followed the ship to the clearing only for it to burst in flame and began crashing down to everyone's shock.

"Christina just...!"

"What just happened?!"

"There you are." A new voice said.

A dark sphere appeared just before the ship and seven figures stepped out of it.

Hibiki tensed "Oracion Seis!"

A woman clad in a white and blue outfit with white hair and brown eyes smirked. The alliance members knew this was Angel from Hibiki's info. "About time, it was pretty annoying to find you after that little clone trick."

"You really were planning to find our base and bomb it? That's a little predictable, Angel, maybe you didn't need Gemini after all." A man with black hair that had a red streak and grey eyes stated. This was Victor, the most recent addition to Oracion Seis, rumored to be the former guild master of Scorpion Blade.

"Maybe not, I thought it could be entertaining. How they found out is beyond me."

"Hmph, not that we need to worry about that." The man with dark red hair and dark eyes who was the user of poisonous snakes, Cobra, grunted. "I can hear them shaking in fear."

Brain was also with them, along with a man with orange hair and an oddly square face who was Hoteye, the mage who always look for a profit. There was another man with spiky yellow hair in a white and red suit who was the speed magic user, Racer. In front of them was a young man with dark violet hair, who oddly enough, seemed to be asleep.

"Clean up your ears then, idiot! Fire Dragon's Iron First!" Natsu snapped.

Cobra smirked and grabbed his arm before kneeing him and tossing him aside. "Too easy."

"Money makes the world go around!" Hoteye exclaimed. "Yes, let me tell you..."

"Shut up and get to work, Hoteye!" Victor and Cobra snapped.

He must have been quite used to this response because it didn't faze him at all "Very well, Liquid ground!"

The ground shook for a moment before it started to go soft, throwing the alliance members off balance. Hope remedied the situation by casting Rescindo wave and focusing the energy on his hand before sending it to the ground. A silver wave pulsed then, surprising Hoteye when the ground returned to how it was.

"Not bad at all, kid." The boy started and turned around to see Victor standing behind him. "Still, you need to..." He struck Hope with a magic enhanced fist to the stomach before following up with a similarly powered up kick. Hope yelped as he felt something heavy force him to stay on the ground. What was that? "...look out for yourself first. So..."

"Oh, no you don't! Ice Make:..." Gray started when the two blue creatures he saw in Hope's screen appeared before him and transformed into a version of himself.

Even stranger, the clone proceeded to hit him with his own Ice Make: Lance.

Victor raised an eye, seemingly surprised for a moment as he kept an eye on Hope "Wait just a minute, aren't you..."

"Ice Make: Ape!" Lyon aimed the snow ape at Racer, who smirked.

"Motor." He disappeared and reappeared before Lyon, Sherry and Hibiki, kicking them both down.

Lucy grabbed a key "All right then..."

A clone of her appeared then. "How about you just stay down?" She cackled, striking Lucy with her whip.

Natsu stood, his eyes landed on Midnight then. "Why the heck is he still sleeping?! Fire Dragon's Roar!"

His mouth fell when the spell seemed to curve away just before reaching Midnight.

"What the..."

He didn't have time to react because Racer punched him then. "Stop that."

"Yeah," Victor snapped his fingers and Natsu felt a powerful force pushing him down. "Midnight's going to be a pain in the ass if you wake him up now. Besides, it's not like you can handle us anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Aerial Shot!" Ren called, what seemed to be a sphere of wind surrounded Victor then.

"You're..." He smirked. "...going to have to do better than that!" He punched the ground, releasing a shock wave that seemed to destroy the sphere before kicking Ren down.

Racer smirked when Eve's spell, which he had aimed at the speed mage and Midnight missed completely. "Motor!" He took Eve down just like he did with his comrades.

Ichiya attempted to help them, pushing Racer back and beginning to use his Pain Relieving Parfum. He froze when a copy of him appeared, only this one had a lot more muscle, the copy then hit him with a combination of punches and kicks that took him down.

"Surprise!" The copy taunted. "I already copied you. It's easy to use your abilities."

Hope aimed a bullet, which began shining with silver light as magic pulsed with in it before shooting at Midnight. He stiffened in surprise when Cobra kicked it down, his foot was surrounded by a black and red substance. The man smirked "So you figured it out, kid? Does that have anything to do with your little friend?"

Hope's eyes widened. He knew? It was only Endymion's warning that let him dodge Cobra's following attack but that let the mage grab his arm and throw him to the ground.

Angel raised an eye when she saw the pendant "Victor, heads up."

"Hm?" The man's eyes widened at the sight of the item before he smirked. "Well, well, guess I owe you." He raised a hand, a magic circle appeared around Hope then, causing him to be lifted into the air and drawn to Victor then.

The strangest thing was, when he touched the pendant, it gave off a bright light that seemingly burned Victor and destroyed the magic circle holding Hope up in the air.

"W-what the hell..."

"My, this is quite an interesting treasure! If I sell it, I'm sure I'll earn quite the money!" Hoteye exclaimed.

"Just try that Hoteye and I'll pound your face in!" Victor threatened, rubbing his arm where the burn was.

Meanwhile, Cobra and Brain were facing the last members of the alliance still standing, Erza and Jura.

"You're pretty good," Cobra dodged another of Erza's strikes. "But I can hear you."

Jura grunted as he blocked Brain's dark spell with his Iron Rock wall before bending the rock and using it to attack.

"So this is a wizard saint's power..." The man was stronger than he expected and he was starting to have trouble. They hoped to use Gemini to take him out but whoever it was that came up with the clone trick had ruined that plan.

"Need a hand, Brain?" Victor asked with a smirk.

"Please." He dismissed. "Dark Capriccio!"

"In that case, you mind if I take the kid?" The man said, nodding at Hope. "At least until I figure out how to sort this little problem out."

"As long as you make sure the others are wiped out."

"Not a problem."

Victor picked Hope up with one arm, only to hear a cold voice say 'Keep your hands off my friend.'

Endymion sent some of his magic, which manifested as a golden aura around Hope's body to push Victor back.

Victor grit his teeth and raised an arm, a magic circle appeared around the alliance members, causing a strong force that pushed them down.

Cobra smirked at Erza "You really don't get it, do you? I can hear you perfectly."

The knight mage grimaced, having been slowed up by Victor's magic. Racer used this opportunity to kick her and punch Jura before Cobra added to the mix by sending the purple snake behind him to bite her arm. Her pained scream brought Jura's attention to her, thus causing Racer and Brain to sneak up on him.

"Pathetic, you all wear your hearts out on your sleeves." Brain stated. "I'll end this myself. Dark..." The very atmosphere seemed to shake with the man's power. "...Rondo!"

Angel smirked at the sight of the explosion the spell caused. "That's that."

"Jeez, Brain, talk about going overboard." Victor grumbled.

"If that pendant is anything like you mentioned, then this wouldn't have destroyed it. Besides, I did say you need to ensure their death."

"About that..." Hoteye began. "...Do you know that young templar?"

"No, I thought he might have been..." Victor trailed off. "...But there's no way it's him."

"Come on, Cobra." Racer said when he saw the man linger. "Even on the off chance that they survived, we'll just kill them later. We've got more important stuff to do."

"True, if that girl's done then we should be closer to finding Nirvana, right?"

"That's the idea."

* * *

Back with the alliance, a rock wall and a shield of light had surrounded everyone, protecting them from Brain's spell.

Jura stared in awe at Endymion. The phoenix spared him a glance before raising his wing. The shield started glowing and formed a shimmering aurora that the wizard saint recognized as the memoria spell, Athena's veil. The rest of the alliance were just as shocked by the sight of Endymion, barely noticing that the phoenix was helping them.

"Guys, Erza's..." Happy began, glancing at the knight mage who was leaning against the shield with a pained face, clutching her arm.

'I know, just a moment.' Endymion's eyes glowed silver for a moment as a silver aura surrounded Erza's arm.

"What happened?" Hibiki frowned.

"That snake poisoned her," Happy explained before looking at Endymion. "Can't you do anything beside freeze her arm?"

'Not in this case...' He'd lost plenty of his healing power and he was starting to recover from that. '...Hope has an idea that might help though.'

He let his host take back control, both ignoring most of their comrades' shock. Hope placed the ring Freed and Levy had helped make on Erza's finger and concentrated his magic.

"Activate."

The blue stone on the ring shone and they could see the poison start to disappear. Erza felt the pain fade a little. "This is..."

"It's supposed to reverse the damage...it might take a while though." Hope said, trying to cast Athena's veil again to speed things along.

"Whoa, hold on, what was that just now?" Ren asked.

"He's a take over mage?" Eve asked Natsu.

"Not exactly. It's a long story and we don't have time."

Hibiki saw Hope wince as he attempted to continue the spell "Senpai, don't you have something for this?"

"Ah, that's right..." Ichiya, who seemed to have forgotten all about that in his confusion, took out a bottle and opened it. "Everyone, my pain killing parfum should take care of all this!"

A pleasant smell surrounded them then and they did feel like their pain was disappearing.

"It's working on the poison too! That's Senpai for you!" Eve said.

"No, it isn't." Lyon could see that Erza wasn't fazed by the smell at all. "That's the kid's work."

"Isn't there something we can do?" Lucy wondered.

"We can just go beat those guys up, right? Maybe that Cobra guy could have an antidote on him or something." Natsu suggested.

Hope shook his head, frowning "You don't know that for sure. We can't beat those guys by charging in with brute force. If Wendy was here..."

Carla agreed "Yeah, your magic is effective but it takes time. Wendy wouldn't have any problem with this."

"That Wendy girl can get rid of poison?" Sherry inquired.

"Not just poison, she can cure illnesses, heal wounds and stop pain."

Ichiya looked dismayed "I feel like my identity was weakened."

"But Healing magic's a lost magic, right? The closest thing we know is the templars' magic but even then it's not always effective." Ren said.

"Yeah, Hope-dono's restoring spells are the best I've seen among all the templars I met." Jura agreed, the rest of the alliance definitely agreed with that statement.

"So it's a part of her dragon slayer magic?" Gray asked, remembering what Hope told them about the girl.

Carla nodded "I'm not sure what they would want with Wendy but we need her too. From the looks of things, they took her to their base."

"That's perfect! We'll just go and get her back!" Eve stated.

"Yeah, so just wait Erza." Hope stood.

"We'll back before you know it!" Natsu added. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Say, Jura-san, have you ever heard of this Nirvana?" Lyon asked. The members of Lamia Scale had decided to go together when the alliance split into groups again.

"No, not before we came here. It does seem to hold a certain amount of significance..." Jura said thoughtfully. "...Still, whatever it is, we can't let Oracion Seis get their hands on it."

"Absolutely." Sherry agreed. "But what do you think about that phoenix? If that Hope kid's not a take over mage then what was that about?"

"It seems to be a complicated story but if he's our ally then that's good enough."

"I guess so..."

"There you are!" A new voice exclaimed as a number of mages wearing red hoods came out of the bushes.

* * *

Natsu, Gray and Hope had left with Carla, while Eve, Ichiya and Ren had gone in another direction, leaving Lucy, Happy and Hibiki with Erza near the clearing.

"Please hurry, you guys..." Lucy muttered.

Erza hated sitting like this while she knew they were all fighting but there wasn't much she could do. Hope's magic had blocked all the pain from her arm but she couldn't move it one bit either. She glanced at the ring, which was sending waves up her arm, at least it was still working. She would fight like this if it was up to her but her comrades had asked her to stay put until they could come back with Wendy and not take any chances. Since she didn't want to inconvenience them in anyway, she obliged.

A flash of light brought Happy's attention to Hibiki, only to find the Blue Pegasus' mage's attention on a number of screens before him. "What are you doing?"

"Tracking everyone's movement." He replied. "My archive magic isn't really suited for battle but it should help us keep an eye on things. We may have started as a ragtag alliance but we can win this if we start working as a team."

"Yeah, that sounds good! Let me know if I can help!"

* * *

"So Wendy's looking for her dragon too?" Natsu asked Carla as the two of them, Hope and Gray sped into the forest.

"Yeah, she wanted to ask you and the other dragon slayer in your guild about that. Whether or not you had any clues to your dragons' whereabouts." The cat explained. "Hope did that for her and it turned out that you're as confused as Wendy."

"We are. They did all just up and vanish without a trace."

"That's true, I keep wondering about that..." Carla stopped, staring at the area before them, where the trees were all withered and black. "...What is this?!"

Hope looked around with a puzzled expression. This was the same place his distant vision couldn't get past earlier. But why?

'...So it's true.' Endymion began.

"What is?" Carla asked.

"What's up, big guy?" Gray added.

'I couldn't remember where at first but I heard of Nirvana. It's a magic that makes people switch between light and dark.' The phoenix said.

"Light and dark?"

'It means they switch allegiances. Let's say a person is exposed to Nirvana. If they were good, it can easily turn them evil. It works both ways too.'

"You're kidding..." Gray trailed off.

"Who the heck would want to create magic like that?" Natsu asked the phoenix.

'I can't say. It's only something I heard about a long time ago. I think it's been over a century at least. If I recall, the magic's creator used it to protect his home but it was apparently too powerful so it was sealed.'

"So it's the reason the forest is like this? Even when sealed?" Hope questioned. "...If it's this strong now, then no wonder Oracion Seis is after it."

"What do you mean? It just makes people change sides, right?" Natsu asked.

It was Carla who replied "Don't you see? It's much worse than that. Imagine them using Nirvana on a guild. It could cause a war between the members. They would destroy each other."

"Meaning if they get their hands on Nirvana, it'll be a disaster for all of us. Let's hustle." Gray said.

"Can't have that now!"

A number of people came out the bushes, immediately blocking their path. All wore sinister grins and looked battle ready. Curiously enough, they were being lead by what seemed to be monkeys.

"They're all over the place!"

One of the monkey grinned "We're Naked Mummy, currently working for Oracion Seis!"

"So they're with that guild Lucy had to beat before?" Natsu clarified.

"Sure looks that way." Gray responded, one of his fists was surrounded by swirling ice. "You guys ready?"

Natsu smirked "I'm born ready!"

"Whenever you are." Hope took out his weapon.

"Wait, you can't mean you're going to fight?" Carla surrounded incredulous. "We have to get out of here."

"What are you talking about? They came all the way to greet us, right?" Gray said.

"You can't be serious!"

"I'd save my breath if I were you, Carla." Hope advised. "They're too eager to battle and it would be easier to deal with them now anyway. If they work for Oracion Seis then they're here to stop us, isn't easier to deal with them now than avoid them and possibly cause trouble for the others?"

She had to admit it was hard to argue with his logic. "That's true...you do realize that's a whole guild we're staring at, don't you?"

"Yeah, but numbers aren't everything."

"Yup, this will be a cinch. Just watch!" Gray added.

"They're making fun of us, Zatou-nii-san!" One of the monkeys exclaimed.

"So let's get them, Gatou-nii-san!" The other responded.

"Just try it!" Gray unleashed a wave of ice that froze plenty of the mages around them.

"Why you!" A number of the dark mages attacked. Hope defeated them with a Maelstrom.

All in all, it was a short battle. The dark guild members had put up some fight but in the end they were all defeated.

"That was harder than I thought..." Gray admitted.

"It was the four of you against one guild. Did you really think it would be that simple?" Carla asked in an exasperated tone. She looked at Hope "Honestly, they're just as reckless as you said."

"Seems like you haven't changed." A new voice commented. A man sat on a tree branch, looking down on the group. It was none other than Erigor, Eisenwald's ace. "Yo, Flame brat, I've got me a score to settle with you."

"Oh hey, if it isn't the breezy bastard!" Natsu greeted. "How's it hanging?"

Hope and Gray exchanged a confused look before the latter said "What the heck are you doing, idiot?"

"What?"

"Natsu, you were never friends." Hope explained patiently.

"Oh..."

Carla raised an eye at the scene while Gray rolled his eyes and Hope and Endymion sighed.

"So, it's just you now? Should be easy enough." Erigor jumped down. "No surprise you beat those idiots. I'll take over now." With a wave of his hand, Erigor sent a fierce wave of wind at them.

Hope cast Zero Ray to stop the spell, feeling his own magic reserves replenished. Erigor's eyes widened when the wind died down. He scowled then "How about this?!"

Natsu, who knew what the templar was up to, decided to act now. "Nice one, Hope! Leave him to me."

Erigor grinned, wind surrounding his palm then. "Just the way I want it!"

The fight was over quickly. It helped that Erigor had once again overestimated himself and underestimated Natsu, who had grown much stronger from the time of their first fight. With the wind mage out of the way, the group was able to continue advancing to Oracion Seis' base.

Little did they know an unexpected surprise lay in their destination...

* * *

Wendy stepped back, eyeing Brain and Racer, who had their eyes on the coffin with the former wearing a smirk. She couldn't believe it at first but inside the coffin was none other than Jellal Fernandes. He was thought to be dead after the tower of heaven incident but Brain said that he had gotten caught in the tower's collapse and became comatose because of Etherion.

The Sky Dragon Slayer was even more confused when Cobra explained that she was brought here to heal him. What she picked up from their conversations told her that Jellal knew something they wanted though.

Normally she wouldn't help Oracion Seis for anything but now...

This was something that not even Carla was aware of but Wendy knew Jellal. He had taken care of her for a while after her foster mother Grandeeney disappeared and even brought her to Cait Shelter. Which was why she couldn't believe the news about him. Still, she owed him a great debt and she couldn't bear to leave him in that state.

This was the only reason she agreed to Brain's demand. And now it was finished.

"Wendy!"

The girl started at the familiar voice calling her and turned around to see Carla, Natsu, Gray and Hope at the base's entrance. "Carla, Hope-san!" She exclaimed, surprised to see the latter.

"So you did survive." Racer said coolly. "Well, not that it makes any difference. You still don't stand a chance."

"Oh yeah?!" Natsu wanted to carry on but then he saw the figure walking up behind the speed mage. His eyes widened "You?! How...why are you here?"

The others were confused, deciding to follow his line of sight till their eyes fell on Jellal.

"He's alive?!" Gray exclaimed.

"You know him?" Carla wanted to know, taking note of their shocked expressions.

"Y-yeah...but you might have heard him. That's Jellal Fernandez." Gray informed.

And she did. "You're joking! That's the person who brought down the old magic council? But they said he died!"

'...That's what we thought too.' Endymion briefly thought of Mystogan, knowing something was definitely strange. But that was an issue on its own.

"So they brought you here to heal him, Wendy?" Hope asked.

The girl gave a shaky nod. "I-I had to. I couldn't just..."

"Now we can get things under way." Brain turned to Jellal. "We are..."

Then Jellal did something that surprised everyone present. He attacked the Oracion Seis leader.

* * *

"Jura-san?" Lyon said when the wizard saint stopped.

"...You two go on ahead." He said, turning left. His eyes narrowed. "I sense a powerful presence coming our way."

"Oracion Seis?"

"Most likely." Jura nodded. "Go on, I'll face them."

Lyon and Sherry left, albeit a little reluctantly, but they trusted their guild's ace to take care of things.

* * *

"What the heck..." The bewildered group stared at Jellal, who didn't spare him a glance.

Racer scowled "What do you think you're doing?" But Jellal cast a spell that sent him to the wall. He then headed for the entrance.

Natsu's fist clenched "Bring it! I won't let you off easily!"

Jellal merely gave the dragon slayer a look before casting a spell that hit him and his friends.

Carla blinked, realizing she hardly felt any pain. "Wha..."

Natsu stood with a grunt. "The bastard...he's run off!"

It was true. Jellal was no where in sight. The dragon slayer raised an eye at Brain and Racer's unconscious forms, wondering why that didn't happen to them. He shook himself, that didn't matter now.

"I'm not letting him get awa...oof!" He yelped, because Carla had chosen that moment to pull him by the scarf before he could run off. "...What're you doing?"

"You can deal with that later! Did you forget what happened already?"

"Hey," the two glanced at Gray, who was looking at Wendy. "You probably used plenty of magic but you mind giving us a hand?" He gestured behind him to Hope, who was on his knees, looking tired and in pain.

"Ah, yes!" Wendy began to use her magic to heal him immediately.

"What happened?" Natsu asked.

'He used Zero Ray to nullify that spell. It was too strong to stop on such short notice. The drawback of that spell is the magic backlash that could hit the user sometimes.' Endymion explained.

"Hope-san..." Wendy began, looking worried.

"It's okay, it worked for the most part." He stood when she was finished. "Thanks, Wendy. We should get back now."

"Yeah, Erza's waiting for us." Gray agreed, deciding to explain everything to Wendy on the way.

* * *

They had gotten a fair distance away when Racer's voice reached their ears. "Lucky little brats. It's time I do away with you."

Gray saw a shadow through the trees and looked at Hope. The boy understood the silent question, letting Endymion enhance his sight before he spoke. "Coming up left."

"All right, Ice Make: Lance!" Gray cast, letting the ice lances spread over a wide area to his left, forcing Racer out. "All of you, get going! I'll take care of this guy!"

"But Gray, you..."

Natsu wanted to speak and Gray knew he was about to object so he said. "Don't give me those looks. I'm not losing to him. Erza's waiting, remember? Go!"

Natsu grimaced "All right, but if you lose, I'll be kicking your ass later."

"If that happens, I'm letting you do it." The ice mage responded.

"Like I'll let you leave..." Racer jumped.

"Ice Make: Rampart!"

The speed mage's path was blocked by a giant wall of ice, forcing him back.

Hope bit his lip "When you get back, Erza's going to be all right and back in action."

"That's just what I'm counting on." Gray responded, still watching Racer but giving them a thumbs up.

Hope and Carla summoned their wings and picked Natsu and Wendy respectively before flying from the scene.

Racer scowled "If I wanted to, I could catch up to them no problem. But that's twice you stopped me now. My name would mean nothing if I let you live."

"Oh please." Gray said dismissively. "It's just a name. Besides, haven't you heard? Ice can stop the flow of life itself."

* * *

Happy noted with relief that more than a quarter of the poison was gone from what he could see. Hope's idea was working but it just needed more time. However, he couldn't help but wonder how much they had left after what Hibiki told them about Nirvana.

Spirits rose a little when Hibiki managed to contact Natsu and Hope at last, showing them where their location was with his magic. They learned of the group's success in the process and that Wendy was coming to heal Erza soon. It seemed the rest of the alliance had similar luck for the most part, having managed to defeat all the enemies they ran into while searching for the base. The only close call they had was when Ichiya had almost been captured but Ren and Eve were there to bail him out.

* * *

Brain glared at nothing for a moment before turning to see Midnight leave, having roused the mage himself a minute ago. He had to admit that he didn't expect Jellal's reaction. Something was definitely amiss. He ordered Cobra to track the blue haired mage down. The alliance wouldn't get in their way, he vowed silently, he would make sure Nirvana's power would be theirs if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

Hope stopped running and before his friends could ask why, he pulled Wendy back in time to dodge a silver energy sphere that would've hit her had he not done so.

"What..."

Victor jumped out of one of the trees, landing to face the group. "Heh, guess I should've expected another templar to recognize that spell. Still, not bad for a kid." He stretched. "You want the little girl to heal Titania, right? Well, I don't plan to let that happen." He prepared a spell and raised an arm. A magic circle flashed and a powerful force made the group fall to their knees.

"W-what is this?" Wendy managed.

"It's like he's manipulating gravity!" Carla said.

He laughed "Got it in one. Yeah, that's what I do. Good luck getting away from that."

A beam of light shot out of the gravity field he erected, destroying it and grazing his shoulder. Victor froze, stunned. "How..."

He barely had time to dodge a glowing bullet, but then it split into several smaller ones that he forced to the ground with his magic. He then turned his attention to Hope. "Who would've thought you'd spare me the trouble of looking for you? Well, I'll be getting my hands on that treasure soon enough."

"You won't be getting your hands on anything." Hope said coolly, firing two bullets. Victor watched as they shot up into the air. He saw them split into several ones and smirked.

"I won't fall for the same thing twice."

But it wasn't the same idea. The bullets had split and all shot at him, he managed to get them all but one, which hit his side.

Hope switched his weapon to sword form before looking back at Natsu, Wendy and Carla. "You three have to keep going."

"But Hope-san..."

"He's been after me right from the start." The boy cut Wendy off, then lowering his voice. "Besides, we're awfully close to where Erza and the others are. We can't let him find them now. Endymion says there's a couple of other powerful forces nearby and that's troublesome enough."

'Go.' Endymion added, agreeing with his host completely. While he didn't have half his healing power from before, he had developed a particularly strong ability to sense magic and it was really coming in handy now. 'We're on borrowed time as it were and that goes double for Erza.'

Hope smiled reassuringly "We'll be fine. Just leave things to us now. Everyone has to do their part, right?"

Just like with Gray, Natsu's expression showed that he didn't like this one bit but they really didn't have a choice. "...All right, we'll leave it to you. You guys gotta win, yeah?"

"That's the plan."

'We won't have it any other way.'

Hope saw Wendy's worried look and Carla's frown. "We'll be fine. Erza is a really important friend of ours, practically my sister actually. I'll trust you to help her out, okay, Wendy?"

Feeling a little better with her friend's faith in her, Wendy nodded strongly. "Be careful." Hope nodded and continued "Carla, you make sure she makes it safely through."

"Naturally, you two had better make it back soon."

"Please." Wendy added.

Hope smiled before he and Endymion responded in tandem "It's a promise."

"Not sure what you're whispering about there..." Victor stopped when he saw the three running. "...But I said I won't let you, remember? Force..."

Hope traced a finger along the sword and it lit up before he went to strike the gravity mage, forcing him back before he could finish the spell.

"Your battle's here."

Victor watched them leave, deciding to change his plans and take care of the younger templar first. "All righty, have it your way, kid. I'm still getting my hands on that pendant when I wipe the floor with you!"

Hope's grip on his blade tightened as he got the other one out. "Just try it!"

* * *

_That's all, folks!...What's with the long face Happy?_

_Happy: Carla wouldn't take my fish...I don't get why she doesn't like it._

_Maybe because it's raw? Frankly, I can't see how you eat it like that._

_Happy: Really? But it tastes totally good._

_As they say, to each their own. How about you try something different next time?_

_Happy: I guess...Any chance you can help me?_

_Sure, we can probably work something out. _

_Happy: Great! Everyone read and review, Solana gets happy and motivated for the next chapter when you do._

_That's definitely true, laters!_


	22. Chapter 22

_Natsu: Hey, you finally put your head in this and got the chapter going!_

_Yeah, it wasn't easy, Natsu. We just started college and I'm a junior now, it's a pain._

_Natsu: Sounds boring._

_Oh, trust me, it is, more than you can imagine. I hate every moment of that. Anyway, I'm definitely going to put more effort into this whenever I can. Disclaimer, please? _

_Natsu: No problem! Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail. What she owns is her own characters and plot. _

_Thanks! Everyone, I hope you enjoy the chapter._

* * *

"Let's try this, Ice make: Floor!"

Gray scowled when he saw Racer simply change directions in his charge and attempt to punch him, but the ice mage stopped him with a shield. He grimaced, trying to decide his next move. he just couldn't seem to nail Racer with any of his moves.

"Motor!"

With a grunt, Gray held up his arms to block the man's oncoming strike. "This is getting old, Ice make: Lance!"

But Racer dodged that move too. Getting an idea, Gray cast a quick Ice hammer that nailed the man's shoulder and forced him down. Smirking the ice mage prepared to attack again.

"You really don't get it, do you? You're too slow, you'll never stand a chance!" Racer raised an arm, a magic circle flashed before he called "Dead Grand Prix!"

* * *

Victor blocked Hope's Thousand Ray by using a gravity sphere to destroy it. "You don't know when to give up, kid."

Hope jumped back to avoid the other sphere coming at him before he felt a familiar power making him stop. Frowning in concentration, Hope nullified the Freeze spell with his own magic before striking a surprised Victor with his swords.

The older templar responded by forcing him down with another gravity sphere before getting a lance from his pocket dimension and continuing his attack. Hope forced his arm up and formed a shield of light to block the weapon. He couldn't keep it up for long however, which left him vulnerable for Victor's next strike.

Cringing, Hope forced himself to stand upon realizing that he had been kicked away from the gravity sphere's range. He fired a bullet which would have hit Victor's shoulder had he not moved at the last second before taking a shot and using another bullet.

"I'm surprised you almost nailed me as much as you did..." Victor began. "...But you should know better than to do something so basic, especially against another templar. You're not cracking up already, are you?"

"Not a chance."

Victor looked confused at this. He knew something was up when the second bullet changed direction before it stuck him. He followed it and was shocked to see a multitude of light spheres there. The arrow struck one, setting a chain of explosions then.

* * *

"What the hell is this?!"

A number of motorcycles sped across the battlefield towards Gray and Racer. The latter smirked and jumped on one. "Those are built to match my speed. Slowpokes can't handle them so try to keep up!"

Gray grunted and got on the closest one "Interesting, let's go!"

Racer tried to tackle him when he got close, succeeding in pushing him a fair bit back. Gray scowled. He needed both his hands for his magic, which wasn't an available option now.

When Racer tried to attack again, a horde of snow eagles forced him to change directions. A surprised Gray looked for the source of the spell.

"You guys!?" Lyon and Sherry stood at the bottom of the hill, clearly having just arrived.

"Doll Attack: Wood Doll!" Sherry cast.

Racer smirked and dodged the move, preparing to attack them now. Gray sped up and tackled his motorcycle, forcing him to change directions once more. The ice mage then jumped off the vehicle and started to cast, with Lyon quickly following suit.

"Ice make..."

"Lance!"

"Ape!"

But Racer dodged all their moves again "Not a bad speed. Still, you're downright sluggish compared to me."

* * *

"So Hope and Gray are facing two of them now?" Lucy clarified.

"Yeah, they hung back to help us get here," Natsu replied.

"You think they're going to be all right?"

"For sure." The dragon slayer replied firmly. "Gray can be a pain in the neck but he's tough, he can take care of himself. Hope and Endymion are strong, and they're an awesome team. How's it looking there, Wendy?"

The sky dragon slayer had been busy healing Erza, something made much easier thanks to Hope's ring. "Everything's fine."

Hibiki looked relieved "That's good." He recalled something. "Ah, hold on, but you can't move you arm, can you?"

Erza glanced at the silver ring, remembering the main condition Hope created his rings with, she said "Stop." The stone stopped glowing as she concentrated magic power on her arm. She started moving it then. "I think Hope set it up so that the spell would be cancelled when I use magic with no restraints on my arm. It's all right now."

* * *

'I can see why Oracion Seis is feared. He's really strong.' Endymion thought as he and Hope struggled to block Victor's attacks with his lance, which were enhanced by Accel Force.

Hope dodged the next strike 'Yeah, but I'm not giving up.'

'Neither am I.' The phoenix assured.

Hope tried to slash Victor's arm but that failed when the latter sidestepped the sword and used his magic to hurl the younger templar into a tree. He continued by using the flat end of his spear to hit Hope's stomach, knocking the wind out of the brunet and stopping his attempts to break free. Hope cried out as he felt the gravity growing stronger on him as he tried to decide what to do about this.

* * *

Lyon scowled when another of his spells missed Racer "Jeez, whatever we try always ends up failing..."

"Yeah, this guy's getting on my nerves!" His fellow ex-pupil stated, both watching as the rock golem Sherry had summoned had completely missed as well but this left her to be struck down by the Oracion Seis mage.

The two ice mages did something that surprised both Sherry and Racer. They took off their shirts.

"What are they..."

"Ice make:..." Lyon and Gray began.

"Ape!" A giant ice monkey emerged and attempted to catch Racer, forcing the mage to dodge.

"Ice Cannon!" Gray fired a concentrated blast of ice that unfortunately failed to hit the target too. But they weren't about to take that lying down.

"Ice make: Snow Dragon!" Lyon cast.

"Ice make: Geyser!" Gray added.

The icy dragon soared into the sky as Racer jumped while an icy wave appeared on the ground, forcing Racer to increase speed and dodge, getting higher up in the sky. Sherry grimaced at the failure, even after Gray and Lyon worked together Racer was just too fast. What could they do?

She didn't know that this combination actually helped them.

"Oi, Lyon..." A bewildered Gray began.

"No, you weren't seeing things. I noticed too." A smirk settled on Lyon's face then. "The main hurdle's down."

Gray grinned "Yeah, let's get him!"

* * *

"I'm surprised you're still at it." Victor said as he watched Hope get up. His last attack had plenty of power and he really thought the boy would be down and out. It seemed that his attacks were having an effect but still..."If you just give up and give me the pendant, I'll let you go...is what I'd like to say." He admitted to a confused Hope. "I'm not a big fan of killing as you might think. But they'll be expecting me to take you out so no choice, kid."

"Well, that's one thing we have in common..." Hope was starting to wonder if there was more to his enemy than meets the eye. Something just didn't feel right. "...because we don't have the option of giving up here either."

"Heh, point taken." They clashed weapons again, with Hope opting to match Victor's enhanced speed with his own Accel Force.

"You're not the first person who's after my pendant." Hope began after both jumped back. "But I can tell you're completely different from the last one I can remember. Why do you want it?"

"Here's an idea, I'll tell if you win." Victor responded, he stabbed his lance in the ground. This released a gravity wave that took Hope by surprise and slammed him to the ground as a result. Victor boosted his speed again and struck the younger templar with a combination of punches and kicks before using the flat end of his spear again to strike his chest and send him crashing down hard.

But just like he expected, Hope started trying to get up a minute later. Victor was about to continue when a gold light enveloped the boy and Endymion appeared moments later, wasting no time in sending Victor flying with a speedy tackle.

"I wondered when you'd show up." The templar admitted after he used his magic to right himself before he hit the ground. He tried a Gravity wave to force the phoenix down but Hope and Endymion responded by switching control to get away and it worked perfectly.

* * *

"Say, Hibiki?" The man blinked and looked at Natsu, who was staring at the sky with a puzzled frown. "When you said you know about Nirvana...did that include anything about what it's supposed to look like?"

The Blue Pegasus mage stopped to think "Now that you mention it, no. Why?"

Natsu responded by pointing at the sky and everyone followed his line of sight to see a pillar of black light a fair distance away.

"What in the world..."

"You think they got to Nirvana after all?" Happy frowned.

"It wouldn't surprise me. Wendy said that's why they wanted Jellal." Carla informed.

The blue cat looked confused "Wait, slow down, Jellal? What're you..."

"Oh, right, we never got around to explaining that, did we?" She began retelling what happened on their end earlier.

Almost everyone had their attention focused on the pillar. Natsu's fist clenched "So that's why...I should've known that bastard was helping them out."

"What do we do now?" Lucy fretted.

"Oh no..." Wendy blinked, noticing someone missing. "Where's Erza-san?"

* * *

"Sherry, can you still fight?"

"Eh? Of course," the young woman looked a little confused, sensing the change in Lyon and Gray's demeanor. "What do you want me to do?"

"Hit him with all you got." Gray replied simply.

"Hah? If that worked before we wouldn't be in this mess!" She pointed out incredulously.

"I know, what we need is more time. Ice Make: Kite!" Gray cast, using the new icy creation to fly from the battle field.

"And just where are you going? Motor!" Racer charged in his direction.

Sherry looked baffled, was he trying to run away?! But Lyon's expression told her that this wasn't a surprise. "Lyon-sama, please tell me this is part of your plan."

He didn't disappoint "Yeah, just follow my lead. Ice Make: Eagle!"

"All right, then Doll Attack: Rock Doll!" Sherry created another rock golem and manipulated it so it would attack Racer.

"Didn't you learn from the last time?" Racer asked coldly, destroying it then. Sherry responded by manipulating the remaining rocks and recreating it. The recreated construct went after the Oracion Seis mage with a vengeance.

"Ice Make: Panther!" Lyon cast.

Racer grunted and dodged the spell before looking down at them. "You really don't know when to give up, do you? The Fairy tail brat clearly realized it. You're all way out of your league!"

Sherry noticed that Lyon had charged closer to the mage and quickly followed him, having realized what he was up to for the most part. "That's what you think."

"Doll Attack: Wood Doll!" Sherry called out, the vines on the tree behind Racer suddenly moved to life and lashed out, grabbing the startled mage and slamming him against a tree. She didn't have enough power now to fully use the spell but fortunately this was easy.

"Nice, Sherry! Ice Make: Polar Bear!" Lyon created a big bear that slugged Racer in the stomach.

Scowling, the Oracion Seis mage focused his power and escaped his bindings then.

"Gotcha!"

He started at Gray's voice and found the fairy tail mage standing on a tower of ice, an icy arrow in hand. "Ice Make: Super Freeze arrow!"

Racer was shocked when the arrow went at great speed, slamming him into the ground and causing him to pass out.

"That's that." Gray grinned, knowing that this battle was won.

* * *

"What're you doing?" When they went up to him, Gray had taken his bag out of his pocket dimension and was currently digging through it.

He looked relieved "Oh, good. It's all here."

Gray took out three small bottles of golden liquid and gave one to Sherry while tossing the other to Lyon. "That's a potion made to restore our energy." He said, preceding the question. At Lyon's raised eye, he added "What? It's a sensible idea, we've had a long fight and you two need it more than me with how much power you put in distracting Racer just now." Gray glanced at Racer, who was trapped in an icy cage, still unconscious.

"I won't deny that. I'm just surprised that you thought of this." Lyon admitted.

Gray's eye twitched as he uncapped the bottle in his hand"Just drink it before I'm inclined to go against my better judgement and beat you while you're still down."

The only reason he hadn't snapped was that this was actually Hope's idea. The boy was the closest thing Fairy tail had to a medic after Porlyusica and he thankfully plenty of ideas to help them in tough situations. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to prepare for this one but the batch the team held on to should be enough for this. None of them had remembered to distribute any of the potion during all the chaos that went down so now was a good time as any.

"I'm still a little confused." Sherry admitted. "How did our spells work so well now? Did we wear him down?"

"I'd say that's part of the reason." Lyon nodded. "Besides, he was underestimating us so he let his guard down."

He added that when he and Gray used the combination at first, they noticed how after rising a fair bit into the sky, the snow dragon had gone much faster and Racer's movement seemed different. Racer wasn't fast, he just managed to slow things around him with his magic. After discovering that, they agreed that Gray would try to get away from his magic's range while Lyon would hammer him with everything he had to prepare for the finishing blow.

"I see..." Sherry nodded, smiling then. "...It's still nice to see you working together though. You would have an easier time of it, having trained together, huh?"

"Guess so." Gray shrugged nonchalantly. "This alliance would have been a waste if we don't at least try to get along."

"Exactly." Lyon piped up. "Besides, losing to that idiot would've left a bad taste in my mouth."

* * *

Endymion soared above the enemy, waving his wing unleashed four beams of light that threatened to rain on Victor, who dodged three and used Zero Ray on the last one. He was surprised when the spell burned him immediately.

'Wha...' His eyes widened when he saw the light had a silvery tint to it. So they combined magics?

Plenty of templars knew how to use Zero Ray well and it was a great defense, the catch was that if the attack had memoria magic in it, it ceases to work.

Endymion sent out a powerful light wave to destroy the gravity well Victor had managed to trap him in, the attack blinding Victor too. He then used Nova blast, eyes narrowing when Victor managed to dodge most of it.

The Oracion Seis managed to force his eyes open, ignoring the pain to make out where Endymion was before deciding his next move. Moments later, Endymion had to fly off to avoid a gravity sphere coming his way before a bunch more came along in succession, the last striking him. This gave Victor enough time to strike the phoenix with his magic charged lance a number of times catching him off guard with a magic enhanced fist to the chest. As he moved for the finishing blow, a golden light surrounded Endymion and a loud clang sounded as his weapons clashed with a pair of twin blades. Victor's eyes widened as Hope stared back with determination.

"Why the surprise?" Hope asked, gathering his magic. "I told you. We're not losing."

Using Accel Force once more, Hope managed to push Victor's weapon off and charged with his light enhanced swords. He continued to strike the older templar with incredible speed numerous times before creating two spheres of light that merged into a golden tornado that sent Victor crashing down. Wasting no time, Hope quickly switched his weapon to pistol mode and fired a sphere of light that went into the tornado, where it picked up power and speed. "Starlight Storm!"

Hope landed, panting but not forgetting to keep an eye on the enemy. His expression relaxed when he realized that he had knocked Victor out.

'It's done.' Endymion assured.

A small smile settled on Hope's face "Yeah..." He'd done it and fulfilled his promise to his friends.

He tried to stand but found himself falling back. Then a pair of strong arms caught him before he hit the ground but his vision faded to black before he could see who the new arrival was.

* * *

"So why exactly did Erza go after Jellal?" Carla questioned.

"They were friends when they were kids." Happy informed, surprising her. "Things were really awful between them as you can imagine. It seemed he really was a good guy before. Oh man, I didn't think she was listening to us before..."

Natsu scowled, Erza had left their group before they knew it. He, Happy, Wendy and Carla had decided to go find her. Under no circumstances did he want those two to meet again.

"This is all my fault..." Wendy had wanted to go check on the knight mage after what she did, feeling responsible since she was the one who revived Jellal. She wasn't sure what the story was, but things seemed bad between him and Erza. Natsu and the others had tried to assure her that it wasn't, he knew she didn't have any choice in the situation Oracion Seis had put her in but it didn't seem to help. "...If I didn't..."

"All right, that's enough!" A fed up Carla snapped. "I'll say this one last time. No one thinks its your fault so stop this. If you've got time to blame yourself then you've got time and effort to put into doing whatever you can to this mission. Didn't you promise Hope to try and always give whatever you choose to do your all?"

"C-Carla..." Wendy realized she was right. She had been impressed by the templar, who had helped her every time they met. They'd become very good friends. She could see how much effort he put into every day and promised to follow that mindset. "...You're right. I won't hold back."

"That's more like it. Now come on!"

* * *

"Ah, you're awake?"

He blinked confusedly at the blurry figure in front of him. He shook his head and frowned in concentration.

"Jura-san?" Hope sat up, not expecting to see him. Eve and Ren were with him along with none other than Hoteye, to his and Endymion's bewilderment.

"Damn, you were right about the kid." Ren let out when he saw the battle, impressed. "He sure is stronger than he looks..."

"He surprised me at first too but Hope-dono's talent and skills surpass his young years, by far." Jura smiled.

"Yeah, you sure pack a punch, Hope." Eve mused, agreeing completely.

"Um, thanks..." Hope was too confused to really pay attention to the praise. He looked at Hoteye, who was trying to get Victor up. "...What did we miss exactly?"

"Believe it or not. He's on our side now." Eve began.

"Apparently, he was too close to Nirvana when it activated while he fought Jura. He said he's seen the light and he's been helping us out ever since." Ren added.

"Wait, Nirvana was..."

Ren pointed at the sky. "You can see it with that powered up sight magic, right?"

And he could. The black pillar in the sky wasn't too clear from here but it was definitely there...

Endymion, however, had his eyes on Victor. Specifically something he'd noticed on his shoulder earlier. The phoenix stiffened as he realized his suspicions were on the money 'That's...!'

Hope blinked as Eve helped him stand up. 'What's wrong?'

"So what do we do with him?" Ren asked Jura.

"Relax, Victor-dono won't be helping them anymore." The wizard saint assured, seeing the awakened templar and Hoteye looking at them.

"How do you know?"

"Simple. He is Oracion Seis' prisoner."

* * *

Victor's eyes narrowed "How the hell do you know about that?"

"Eh? Wait, what gives?" A baffled Eve looked between the two.

"It's like Jura says." Hoteye started. "Victor came across a shady deal concerning one of the top members of Scorpion blade and a soon to be member of the council who was helping him. I'm not sure who the man was exactly but apparently that mage had to help him out of a tight spot before and he was now calling his debt. He would've spilled one of the man's darkest secrets had he refused before killing him and his family. Victor tried to help but the man just ran away when the scorpion mage knocked him out. He was then sent to us before Brain used a dark rym seal on him."

"Which means?" Ren prompted.

It was Hope who answered that. Endymion had just finished telling him about it, having seen the marks left by it on Victor's shoulder before. "It's a form of body link magic. It means Brain would have been able to kill him the moment he wanted to."

The Blue Pegasus mages cringed "Seriously?"

"That's how it is." Victor stated flatly. "If it was just me then fine, the problem is Brain linked my life to the guy's family. If I go, so do they."

"I see..." Now this part Jura didn't know. "...It would certainly explain your actions."

"So, how do you know?" Victor asked again. "Because he wouldn't listen to a single thing I said when I finally got to contact him again."

"Actually, the council contacted me about you. Councilman Benjamin failed to keep it a secret after all and they asked me to help you." Jura replied. "One thing I don't understand, why did you want Hope-dono's pendant?"

"If you know how to use it, it strengthens memoria magic." Victor informed, surprising everyone but Hope himself. "If being the major part, of course. I didn't expect it to hurt me like that. I thought it could help me get rid of the damn thing."

Eve frowned "I don't get it. Couldn't you have done anything than play along to their whims? It wasn't..."

While he expected questions when his secret got out, this one really grated Victor's nerves. "Do you think I actually enjoyed this?! How exactly was I supposed to do that when..."

"...When Cobra could listen to your thoughts and tell Brain?" Hope guessed correctly.

Victor's expression softened when he looked at the boy, who seemed particularly upset by the news. It was surprising enough to think that he was taking it this way with everything that happened. Clearly he was very kind. It was hard to hold onto any anger when he realized that."Yeah, you're a really smart kid. You're probably the reason the trap failed back then, huh? Sorry for putting you through this."

"I..."

"Don't." Victor cut him off. "I'm the one who should apologize for trying to kill you. Heck, the way you're looking at me now isn't exactly helping. I'm surprised you're taking it so well. We both did what we have to do. More importantly..." He forced himself to stand, revealing his shoulder to be bare. "...Thanks, you're the one that did the trick. The seal's gone."

The alliance members looked relieved by the news but none as much as Hope, who had a big smile. He was about to speak when Hoteye said "What wonderful news! This is a good day indeed, I've seen the light and Victor has his freedom. Now that I've realized how important love is, I will definitely go do what I've set out to do."

"Little over dramatic, ain't he?" Ren asked the confused looking Victor, who nodded.

"This is weird, even for him. What exactly happened?"

"I'll explain later. Victor-dono, are you up to fight alongside us?" Jura wanted to know.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for anything."

* * *

Lucy and Hibiki had decided to go meet with Ichiya when Hibiki realized the man had come across the rest of their comrades, who were now trying to regroup too. Lucy was worried about Erza as well, knowing how much of a sore subject Jellal was but she trusted Natsu to help the S-class mage and would put her effort into seeing how things were for the other side.

"Wait a minute, Hibiki..."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

Lucy's eye twitched as she answered "Yeah, because I see Ichiya. Look!"

He followed her line of sight to see the man tied to a pole, surrounded by two women in an odd, tribal ensemble. The love struck expression on his face was enough for Lucy to guess what had gone down here.

"Senpai! Wait, I'm coming to help!" Hibiki ran.

"Hey, wait!" Lucy sighed when she saw the woman turning to them with weapons at the ready. "All right, fine! Gate of the Archer, I open thee, Saggitarius!"

* * *

At the same time, Erza had arrived at the black pillar of light the same time as Jellal did.

"Hold it right there!"

The blue haired man turned to her, looking unexpectedly confused. But his next words really through Erza for a loop.

"Who are you?"

* * *

_And that's a wrap!_

_Natsu: Wait, I'm confused, what happened to Ichiya exactly?_

_Think of his reaction to Erza, and you won't be far off. _

_Natsu: Eh? (blinks) Ohh, I get it...No wonder she hit him so hard._

_I know, right? _

_Natsu: Hey, Solana, I am going to get to fight some of those guys next, right?_

_Sure, as if I'd leave you out. You're just burning up, aren't you?_

_Natsu: You know it! _

_So, we're all good?_

_Natsu: Absolutely._

_Please read and review! _


	23. Chapter 23

_Heya!_

_Well, here's Chapter 23. I really didn't think I'd get this ready in a good time but it worked out well enough. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Would you slow down?! You're running towards two dark mages, you know!" Lucy hissed to Hibiki as he ran to save Ichiya.

The young man had admitted that his magic was more suited to gathering intel and strategy, so unless he had something up his sleeve, Lucy failed to see what he was trying to do.

Hibiki had planned to sneak up on them and get to Ichiya so he can help them fight. He was doing a good job so far, there was just one thing he hadn't counted on.

Ichiya's still conscious captor noticed him, evident from the identical smirk on their faces. One of them took out a sketchbook and a brush before dabbing a little, as if placing the final touches.

"Try this!"

An Ogre appeared in front of them. With a roar, it swung a fist at Hibiki...

...only for it to be shot down by Saggitarius, who immediately notched another arrow.

"Thanks Saggitarius," Lucy walked over.

"No problem, Lucy-san!" The centaur grinned. "Now excuse me a moment, moshi-moshi!"

With a couple of more arrows, the spirit took care of the remaining enemy. Lucy sighed "I can see that you're concerned for your comrades but you got carried away and underestimated them."

"Sorry, sorry," Hibiki said sheepishly as he went to undo Ichiya's binds. "I didn't expect them to notice me but yeah I did get a little carried away. It won't happen again."

* * *

"Sorry about this." Hope said to Victor as the group trekked through the forest.

"Ah, it's fine. Least I can do for all this mess," he shrugged. When he realized how tired the younger templar was, Victor decided to carry him as they went along. Seeing as he really was too tired to keep up with their pace, Hope couldn't protest. "You've used up a lot of your power. It's a good thing you've got such a high control over your magic or this would've been way worse."

"You can tell just like that?" A surprised Jura asked.

"Sure, it's obvious. That fight wore us both down. Naturally, I just have more stamina and there's what he did before that too."

Eve agreed with the assessment "Yeah, it's thanks to him that we at least have an estimate of where to go and there's that trap he busted too. He handled things well, it was pretty clever."

"Thanks, I'm just glad it worked." Hope responded, taking out some potions from his bag and distributing them with a quick explanation of their function.

"Impressive, Hope-dono. You've come prepared." Jura said appreciatively.

Hope just smiled before drinking the contents of his bottle and watching them do the same. Eve raised an eye "Wow, this does feel better..."

Victor agreed "No kidding, you know your stuff, kiddo."

When they continued their trek, Jura decided to get to the subject he hadn't been able to look into earlier "Hoteye-dono, you said you remembered the reason you joined Oracion Seis in the first place. How can we help you with that?"

"Now that he mentioned it, what's the deal?" Ren wanted to know.

"I'm looking for my brother," he admitted. "He disappeared years ago and I've had no luck at all. I joined Oracion Seis so I can gather money for my search and possibly find any lead."

"That explains a lot about you." Victor remarked, finally understanding why he kept talking about money so much before.

"That sounds simple enough. What's your brother's name?" Jura asked.

"Wally Buchanan."

Endymion thought the name sounded familiar but he couldn't say why, which was why the growing smile on Hope's face confused him.

"In that case you don't need to worry." He began. "He's all right."

"So you know him?!"

"No, but Erza does. He's one of her oldest friends. She said he's been traveling with two more of their friends." Hope replied, cheering the man up immensely. "I can ask her for more details if you'd like."

Hoteye thought he might have started crying at this point "That would be wonderful!"

* * *

"They ambushed you again, huh?"

Ichiya lowered his head for a moment "I'm so sorry for this shameful display! Especially in front of such a lovely young lady. Thank you again!"

Lucy shook her head "No problem. So you're going to look for Ren and the others like Hibiki said?"

"Indeed. If they are so close then I won't take long. Wait for us!" He left.

Lucy sighed. She really wasn't all right with this but Hibiki had used his archive to make sure where everyone was and it seemed Gray, Lyon and Sherry had ran into Ren and were nearby. Ichiya had assured them that it would be fine and Hibiki agreed so she relented. It couldn't hurt. Ichiya seemed a little thick to her but even he would make sure to be extra careful now. The archive mage was a little way off, using his magic to try to reach the others.

"Ara," Angel's voice came from behind her. "Look what I found."

* * *

"They were childhood friends?" Carla repeated when Happy finished explaining things. "I think I'm starting to see why you don't want them meeting up."

"It was bad enough the first time." Natsu nodded as they along with Happy and Wendy continued running through the woodsea. "He's definitely bad news but then Erza couldn't fight him without thinking of how he used to be. With what Oracion Seis want with him too, we're just looking at trouble."

"I see your point."

"I wish I could say he wouldn't be on Oracion Seis' side but then he attacked us back at their base..." Wendy recalled with a frown. "...What is he up to?"

"That's the best question I heard all day." Happy looked ahead.

* * *

As it turned out, Erza was about to find out the answer to that...

For a moment she didn't know how to react to Jellal's question. It totally threw her off. She'd expected...well, she wasn't sure what to expect, really. But him looking so lost and confused was definitely not on her list.

"What do you mean? I'm Erza!" She stopped when she saw a spark of recognition in his eyes at last. What was going on? If this was some sort of act, wasn't he taking this a bit far? "Why are you acting like..."

"Y-you're Erza?" He blurted, frowning in thought. "But then why..." Jellal looked down for a moment before continuing. "...Ever since I woke up, I can't remember anything other than you name."

"What?!"

Erza stared at him as she tried to take the information in. He lost his memory? She tried to look for any signs that would show that this was a trick but he just looked confused. The only time his expression changed just a little bit was when she told him who she was. Could it be true?

"You really..." She shook her head. "...How do you expect me to believe that?! You're still helping Oracion Seis. You're the one who activated Nirvana!"

Jellal was about to respond when a voice said "Oh, he didn't."

Erza started at the unfamiliar tone and they both turned around to see a figure in hooded black robes that obscured everything except the lower part of their face jumping from a tree.

The figure grinned "I did."

* * *

"You? So you're really with..." Jellal began.

The figure walked closer. They still couldn't see any of his face aside from the mouth but his voice set him out as a male. "Oh, you thought I was with those idiots? Please, why would I waste my time? I just thought I'd see if their plan would actually go through this time around."

"This time around? What're you saying?" Erza frowned at the odd use of words.

A smirk settled on the new arrival's face "Uh-uh, that would be telling, little queen. For the record, your buddy there is telling the truth. He really doesn't remember anything. He and some of those grunts started following me when I got to these parts. If those idiots had bothered looking up more information, they would have realized that they didn't need him at all. Though he would make a fine fit with them, wouldn't you agree?"

Erza scowled but said nothing. Mainly because a part of her _did_ agree, with what Jellal did at the tower of heaven, it would be easy to imagine him as a member of Oracion Seis. Now though...she didn't what to make of Jellal.

"You know why I've been following you." The young man frowned. "What you said about me before...was it true?"

The figure made a questioning noise before suddenly remembering their earlier encounter "Oh, right...that. Mmhm, everything I said was true. No wonder you were trying to find me but yeah you're about as rotten as me or those dark guilds. You destroyed the old council, forced your own friends to become slaves in that ridiculous tower. Which was a doomed experiment right from the start by the way. Little queen here and her friends stopped you, but apparently you killed one of them in the battle. That's what I hear anyway. See, you should have stayed with Brain after all. You'd fit in great with that bunch."

Jellal staggered under those facts. The figure spoke carelessly as if the matter didn't concern him at all (and he probably didn't think it did). Erza's silence confirmed his words. He still wondered how they knew each other but it was clear that he'd really hurt her and so many other people. He...had been a horrible person before losing his memory hadn't he?

"If you don't have anything to do with this fight, then why are you here? What do you want?" Erza demanded.

"Pretty good questions there," the figure pretended to think. "But that would be telling, Little queen. Why don't you try and find out?"

A sword appeared in her hand "Gladly."

* * *

Lucy sidestepped to dodge her doppelganger's (who she now knew to the Celestial Spirit Gemini) whip. Saggitarius had been forced to go back due to the spirit's antics (but not before he and Lucy combined their efforts to wound Gemini). That particular idea worked better than she expected, mainly because Angel had literally used the spirit as a shield, pulling it in front of her to take the blow, to Lucy's shock and disgust. She'd taken to summon Aquarius, who immediately swamped Gemini. Lucy took the opportunity to use her own whip to strike Angel twice, who growled and made to retaliate. It was then that Aquarius defeated Gemini and Angel confidently decided to summon Scorpio.

Lucy was glad she thought to ask Loke and Capricorn what the other spirits of the zodiac were like out of curiosity (which, coincidentally, helped her deal with Gemini). This gave her a general idea about them.

Thing is, nothing could have prepared her for what Scorpio's appearance caused.

Aquarius had perked up immediately. Her expression change from a fierce scowl to a bright smile, a flush spreading on her cheeks before she hugged Scorpio with a cry of "Darling!"

"Yo, Aquarius," Scorpio grinned. "Been a while."

"It sure has!" She beamed.

Lucy had to work to keep her mouth from dropping at this sight. "I really thought Loke was pulling my leg..."

That her rather cranky, rude and sometimes obnoxious spirit had changed into this...this giggling schoolgirl was something she had to work to wrap her mind around. Angel however just took the scene in stride, smiling calmly.

"So that's her boyfriend, huh?" Lucy hadn't realized she said this part aloud until Aquarius floated over, glaring at her.

"Got a problem with that, little girl?"

"N-nope, not one bit!" She said quickly. "I tried to imagine what he'd be like since you keep bringing him up, you know? And there's what Loke said during training..."

Aquarius raised an eye, looking a bit curious at this "We'll talk later." She turned to Scorpio and smiled. "Darling, it's been too long. Can we go on a date?"

"Well..." He trailed off, looking at Angel.

"Oh, don't stop on my account. Have fun!" She said with a wave.

"Thanks!"

"Don't expect me to ask for your permission!" Aquarius hissed.

Lucy gave her an unimpressed look. She really wanted to stop this, thinking she might need Aquarius in the battle but she didn't see how she could. Aquarius was just impossible like that. Any attempts to stop her from doing what she wanted would likely result in Lucy earning more harm than good. So she took the smart course of action.

"Oh please, I know you too well. Hope you have a great time."

This seemed to be good enough for Aquarius, who immediately went to hold Scorpio's arm with that lovey-dovey expression back on her face. The two went back to the Celestial World then.

"So you're not just some amateur with no clue about the spirits. Good, you might make this worthwhile." Angel smirked, grabbing a key.

Lucy did the same, glaring back.

* * *

Erza put her sword away with a confused look. Their battle hadn't been long but the hooded figure seemed to have realized something then and he promptly retreated before she could react. He held up rather well against her, who in the world was he?

_'Well...'_ She thought to herself, turning to face Jellal. _'Instead of thinking about questions with no answers for now I'd better concentrate on what I'm facing here.'_

* * *

"Wait a minute!" Hoteye stopped. "Say, does anyone see those Blue Pegasus mages?"

Jura stopped at the question, realizing that Ren and Eve were indeed nowhere to be found. "I could have sworn they Eve-dono and Ren-dono right here..."

"Talking of strange things..." Victor frowned, looking around the area. "...does something feel off about this place to anyone else?"

Everyone started searching at that. Endymion picked up what the problem was and he told Hope.

'We've been running around in circles?'

* * *

"This place is about the biggest forest I've ever seen but I'm pretty sure not everything is supposed to look the same..." Wendy tilted her head a little.

Natsu nodded, crossing his arms. "Oh, there they are!"

Happy and Carla flew over, having gone to see if they could see a new path or at least find one of their comrades but both ideas failed. Happy frowned "What do we do now?"

Natsu opened his mouth but then turned around, swinging a clenched fist. Moments later, the reason became clear when the hooded figure materialized out of nowhere. The dragon slayer prepared to fight, glaring down at him. "Who the hell are you?"

The figure grinned wickedly. "Why don't we have a little fun, brat?"

* * *

Having come to check on Lucy and tell her the results of his search, Hibiki was surprised to come across the battle. Taurus and a silver cannon-like spirit were battling it out. The cannon moved into the bushes where Angel currently was and Taurus followed. Hibiki was about to warn the spirit not to when a whip wrapped itself around cannon spirit's nozzle.

"No, you don't." Clearly Lucy had realized that Angel wanted to snipe at Taurus as well, Hibiki thought with relief. "All right, Taurus, hit it!"

"With pleasure, Lucy-san!" The bull struck ferociously with the cannon barely dodging the last one, but it threw Angel off her feet as a result.

Taurus smirked as he watched his opponent fall. He was about to thank for Lucy for helping him when an alarmed cry made him turn around to his contractor to find her trapped with tentacles made of sand that were created by

"Scorpio!" He gripped his axe tightly. "Just wait, Lucy-san! I'll get you out of there."

Lucy struggled to break free of her bindings, which felt stronger the more she did so. "Taurus, that's..." Her eyes widened. "...Look out!"

Before Taurus could react, the two of them were swept into the air by a sand tornado which caused them to fall hard on the ground.

"Just give up, little girl." Angel smirked. "You don't have a chance."

Lucy and Taurus stood, having no intention of doing that. "Forget it!"

"You're not getting past me. I'll..." Taurus stopped when his eyes fell on Lucy who stood next to Angel. "...Wha..."

The other Lucy winked mischievously before beginning to take off her shirt. Taurus had hearts for eyes at this point as he kept watching her.

Lucy looked embarrassed "Stop that!"

"Two Lucy-sans! Double the beauty! What a treat!" Taurus said happily.

"Snap out of it!" Hibiki ran over. "That's not..."

But Angel used the cannon spirit as a bludgeon to knock Taurus out. The second Lucy grinned "Honestly, I almost forgot you're almost as much of a pervert as the short guy in the suit. Somethings never change, Taurus."

"Enough with the tricks, Gemini!" Lucy snapped.

"I don't think so. I'm having too much fun!"

"Same here. So, what will you do now?" Angel asked when Gemini turned into Scorpio again.

"This! Gate of the Lion, I open thee, Loke!" Lucy cried.

The leader of the zodiac spirits appeared in a flash of light. "The cavalry has arrived."

* * *

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

"Heh," the hooded figure jumped back to dodge the blow. Then he disappeared and reappeared behind Natsu before aiming a punch which the dragon slayer blocked.

"That all you got?"

"You wish!" The figure raised a pillar of energy that pushed Natsu back before charging to attack, but duplicates appeared around him.

"He's the one behind this...this illusion." As soon as Wendy said it, she knew she was right. That was exactly what was throwing them off. They were trapped in illusion magic.

"It must be. He's with Oracion Seis too?" Happy wondered.

"For the last time, no!" The figure said in an impatient tone. "But you're right about the first part. Depending on where your friends are, they're in the same situation so if you want to go on, I suggest you step up the battle."

"Then how's this? Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu cried. He wasn't surprised when the figure managed to dodge the move, jumping into the air. Natsu followed him and hit with a few speedy strikes before ending it with an Iron Fist that sent the figure plummeting down. Though he was managed to surround himself with a sphere that made him land smoothly.

"Did you really think it would be so easy?" He waved his hand in a lazy semi-circle, two magic blasts shot out. Natsu tried to dodge one but it hit the ground and threw him off balance so he decided to attempt to block the other one but it went through him.

When the figure laughed, Natsu retaliated with a Fire Dragon's Wing Attack that resulted in him jumping up only to end up getting somewhat burned with a second Iron Fist.

Natsu smirked "Now how about that, funny boy?" He took advantage of the staggered enemy and grabbed his arm before throwing him down. His smirk widened when he saw a silver wave ripple through the area surrounding them. He had a good feeling about that.

"What the..." The figure stood. "...Someone destroyed my illusion?"

Happy perked up "Three guesses who that is."

Wendy smiled and Carla's lips turned up as she spoke "I only need one."

* * *

Hope let out a breath and glanced at Jura, who smiled and said "I think your idea worked."

"So you can actually Zero Ray like that? I thought you need to see the spell." Victor said.

"I can't. Nothing gets past Endymion's eyes, you know."

"I see that but you get some of the credit too."

A voice cut in before Hope could reply "Hey, guys!"

Hope smiled "Gray!"

The ice mage ran over, followed by Lyon and Sherry.

"Everything okay? Why are you with them?" Gray asked, looking at Victor and Hoteye.

"It's a bit of a long story..." Jura began.

* * *

Hibiki stared at the new arrival in wonder "That's Leo...How did you...?"

"No time. Loke, I'm counting on you!" Lucy called.

"Yeah, I won't let you down." He assured with a thumbs up before turning to face 'Scorpio.' "So it's you Gemini, who knew..."

"Hmph, don't think I'll lose. Sand Buster!"

Loke sprinted out of the way at once and jumped, landing in front of Gemini "You're not the only one who's gotten stronger. Regulus Impact!"

The blow was enough to force Gemini out of the transformation and make them retreat to the Celestial World.

"You're more powerful than I thought, Loke." Angel said, surprising them by taking this in stride. "But now the end begins. Gate of the Ram, I open thee..." Lucy and Loke froze at this, knowing what or rather who was coming.

"Aries!"

Hibiki shared their bewildered expression. _'That's Karen's spirit...How did Angel get her?'_

Karen Lilica was a former member of Blue Pegasus and the owner of both Loke and Aries' keys. But she was a cruel celestial mage that only used her spirits as weapons or at worst, scapegoats. Fed up with her attitude, Loke stayed away from the Celestial World when Karen refused once again to change her ways and continued being horrible to her spirits. Since she couldn't summon two spirits at once, Loke's gate would have needed to be closed but he would have to be in the Celestial World for that to happen. But Loke wouldn't budge. Thinking that he had essentially completely restrained her magic, Loke waited for almost a month to see if Karen had realized her mistakes but then Master Bob came to see him to inform him that Karen had died on a job. She couldn't take staying away for so long and forced herself anyway.

Feeling guilty, Loke traveled the lands until he joined Fairy tail a while later. Lucy had discovered his story with Crux's help a few months and when she realized that he was going to disappear, willingly to atone for his role in Karen's death she went to confront him. Lucy fully believed that he hadn't done anything wrong. He was defending Aries after all. She managed to convince the Spirit King to let Loke back in the Celestial World and he had been with her ever since.

Loke feared that since her keys had gone missing after her death, he would have to face Aries one day. This was one time where he wished he could have been wrong.

Aries shuffled nervously, not meeting anyone's eyes "I'm sorry...Leo."

"How...how did you get that key?" Loke managed.

Angel gave him a curious look "You're asking me but your expression says that you already know. Am I right?"

She was "Then the one who did Karen in..."

"...was me." She said calmly.

Hibiki felt anger surge within him at those words. It was her?! Karen had been his girlfriend. He'd tried to talk her out of leaving for that job and help her fix things with Loke but she never listened to him. He always thought she could change for the better but now...Angel had taken that. Had taken that chance from her...and he would never forgive her...

"Didn't I say it? I take the keys of the celestial mages that I defeat." Angel informed. "Though that woman wasn't too bright if you ask me. She made it too easy. She couldn't even summon a spirit right. I guess you could say she did herself in."

Lucy's hand ran over her key holder before it touched Loke's key. "Loke, go back. This...this is too much! You can't..."

Loke put an arm out to stop her. He wasn't really surprised, Lucy was just looking out for him. "Thanks but...I can't. As Celestial Spirits we have to fight for our masters. We won't let them down. I guess you could say it's a matter of pride."

"Right." Aries agreed completely, taking a fighting stance. An action mirrored by Loke a second later before they struck.

* * *

Before they quite realized it, the figure had jumped to a tree. Realizing he had been preparing to leave, Natsu called out "Wait!"

"Lucky for you, someone more interesting came along. So I can't stay." He went off.

"Bastard..." He snarled. "...he was treating the whole fight like some damn game. Who does he think he is?"

"So there's someone even outside those dark guilds for us to worry about." Carla frowned. "What does he want?"

"What do you think he means by someone interesting? Natsu, do you think there's anybody else around?" Happy asked.

After a moment of thought, Natsu began sniffing the air for any new scent. He hadn't noticed any in a while so it was safe to say the area was mostly empty. Natsu blinked "Hold on...there is someone else..."

* * *

"Ho..." Midnight looked up with a neutral expression when he felt the figure watching him.

The figure raised an eye under the hood, noticing the collapsed Ren and Eve not too far away from the Oracion Seis mage. Ichiya was right behind him, looking exhausted but still ready to fight.

"You're the one who cast that illusion just like I thought." Midnight drawled. "I suppose I should thank you. It made things a little...interesting."

"Not the reaction I expected." The figure replied, though his tone said he was amused. He had a feeling he knew what happened. Those three must have been separated from the rest of the alliance with the illusion and Midnight took the opportunity to take them out one by one. "So any reason you've been following me, sleepy head?"

"You're obviously not on our side and clearly not with the alliance so what's your deal?" Midnight demanded.

"Nothing you should know about." The figure waved the question. "Let's just say I'm interested in seeing a little chaos. Good enough?"

"I suppose." Midnight relented. "So what's your name, faceless stranger?"

"Hmm...just stick with calling me Deios."

* * *

"Please, that's enough..." Lucy's words fell on deaf ears as the spirits continued to fight. Aries wasn't a combat oriented spirit so Loke had the advantage, she knew but she could imagine how much it was hurting Loke to fight his friend. Why didn't he listen to her?! This wasn't fair to either of them.

Angel watched her with amusement dancing in her eyes "So, going to cry, little girl?"

"Wool Wall!"

Loke side stepped to dodge the construct of pink wool heading his way before his hands shone with light and he threw a punch which Aries barely blocked in time. Just a little longer...

The physical face down continued. Loke pushed Aries back with Regulus fist but then he groaned when he was caught in the reinforced wool wall. Growling, he forced his magic in that spot and made it destroy the wall before going to Aries.

He really hated to doing this but he still stood by what he told Lucy. He was a celestial spirit and he supported his master. Besides, unlike the last one, Lucy fully deserved his complete support. She truly loved all her spirits equally, even one that gave her grief like Aquarius. He could never leave the fight just because he didn't want to face his friend. That just wouldn't be right. He couldn't live with himself if he let anything happen to Lucy, especially after all she did for him.

Aries was thrown back with a combination of Lion Flare and a speed assault but she struggled to get up, like Angel had said. At least Loke had lucked out, but owner wise, Aries kept dealing with all the bad sorts. He wished she would go back to their world. Then after this was over, he would make sure she would be all right.

"What're you doing?!"

Angel stood next to the cannon spirit, glaring at it when it hadn't fired at her command. Lucy scowled "I told Taurus to hit him with everything he had. I had a feeling you were up to something when you wouldn't close his gate."

Mentally apologizing, Loke hit Aries with "Twin Regulus Fang!"

He hit her twice before swerving and striking her abdomen and with his shining fists. Aries staggered but she smiled "...I'm glad you found such a nice owner."

"Gah, you're useless!" Angel snapped, pushing her away before she went back to the Celestial world. In her fury, she proceeded to kick the cannon spirit into the water.

Lucy glared at her "How dare you treat them like that?! Spirits are living things too, you can't just treat them like...like they're expendable! We're supposed to look out for them. They trust us and they fight for us when we call on them. You were terrible to poor Gemini too. How can you hurt anyone so loyal to you?"

Angel rolled her eyes "And here I thought you know what you're doing even for an amateur. You're just a sentimental fool. Spare me. Who cares, really? It's not like spirits die. As far as I'm concerned, they're mine to use however I want and if they can't do something so simple then they can vanish for all I care."

Loke growled, thinking Angel was just as bad as Karen. He definitely needed to get Aries and her other spirits away from her.

"You should care!" Lucy exclaimed. "Spirits and Celestial mages get their strength from each other. That bond is powerful and no one has a right to misuse it. It's your job to care for them too, that's the least you can do after all their hard work! Loke worked so hard to protect Aries. They shouldn't have had to fight each other at all! It's so sad and what's even worse is that you're forcing her to fight her good friend."

She persisted because of how terrible she felt for Angel's spirits. Gemini used as a shield like that, Aries kicked aside and even that poor silver spirit Caelum treated so harshly. Things couldn't stay like this. Lucy was deciding her next course of action when she felt someone grab her head, startling her into letting out a yelp. Loke frowned in confusion when he saw it was Hibiki.

"What're you..."

"Oh, come to think of it, you're a part of Blue Pegasus too. Did you know that idiot Karen by any chance?" Angel had a good idea of what was going on. Hibiki's dark expression seemed to answer her. "What a small world! No wonder Nirvana affected you."

"Nirvana?" Lucy looked alarmed. "Hibiki, no..."

"It didn't." He cut her off. "It almost did...I almost lost myself in anger and hate but when I watched you and your spirits working hard and I felt your love for them. You even care for her spirits. You're a great mage. I'm going to help you."

A magic circle surrounded them and Hibiki continued "I'm using my archive magic to give you a spell to finish this. You only get one shot at this so get ready."

Lucy wasn't sure how to react to this but she suddenly felt information pouring into her brain. Words she never heard together...before she quite knew it, she started saying them out loud.

_"Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens..._

_All the stars, far and wide..._

_Show me thy appearance..._

_With such shine..."_

"W-what're you doing?" Angel asked, forcing herself to stand up. She could feel the magic emanating in the air. "Stop that!" She grabbed Caelum and decided to use him to attack again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Loke blocked her path and kicked her back. He knew exactly what this spell was and he'd make sure Lucy would nail it. It didn't matter if she had one shot, that was all she needed.

_"Oh Tetrabiblios..._

_I am the ruler of the stars..._

_Aspect become complete..._

_Open thy malevolent gate._

_Oh 88 stars of the heavens..._

_Shine! _

_Urano Metria!"_

Loke smirked and threw Angel to the ground in time for her to be hit by the spell, struck by numerous blasts of magic, almost like falling stars.

Angel tried to stand up but began to fall moments later, muttering "My prayer...to rise up like a true angel..."

Lucy fell to her knees, looking stunned by the damage she could see. "I...did that?"

"Yup," Loke helped her up. "Nice work, you won."

Lucy smiled and shook her head "_We _won."

* * *

"What the heck is that?"

Natsu's group had arrived at a massive structure with seven pillars holding it up. Strangely enough, there was what seemed to be a city on the top.

"Is that a city?" Happy flew up to get a closer look.

"Natsu-san, are you sure the others were around here?" Wendy asked.

"From what I can tell, yeah. But now that I'm close, it looks like those Oracion Seis creeps were here too."

Happy's scream brought their attention to the blue cat as he avoided a huge, purple snake trying to bite him. With some skilled flying, he promptly rejoined his friends and watched the snake land a few feet away.

Cobra walked out of the bushes "That's quite the nose you've got there, Salamander."

"You're...!"

Cobra smirked.

* * *

"Still, that's some mess you got into..." Gray said at last when Victor and Hoteye finished explaining everything. Fortunately, they'd found Lucy and Hibiki a few minutes ago and took some time out to catch up.

"Really." Lucy nodded. "Well, as long as you're helping us out now you're okay with me."

"You can count on that." Victor assured.

Hoteye noticed a figure running to their left. "Who's there?"

Deios stopped, surprised and a little thrown off by the call. His grin returned when he saw the alliance members staring him down. "Well, look what the cat dragged in..."

"Wait, I know that voice." Victor began. "You're that guy who tried to offer Brain some help right before we got here."

"Oh so you heard that?" Deios responded. "Yeah, your old boss is an idiot for refusing but what can you do? I'll just have my own fun now. Now I know who ruined my spell though."

Lyon crossed his arms. It was clear that this guy was bad news. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"You can just me call Deios." He replied. "But then I'm not the only one who knows what it's like to go about with another name. Isn't that right, Christopher Sherwind?"

Most of the listeners looked confused at this, though Lucy and Gray exchanged surprised looks before the former said "How do you know about that?"

"Know what, what's he talking about?" Sherry demanded.

"...That was my name before I was adopted." Hope replied, looking puzzled. "But after all this time...I didn't even know that was my last name so how does he know?"

The strange thing was, though he couldn't remember said name before, Hope couldn't shake the feeling that Deios was telling the truth. It just sounded really familiar and he had the sinking suspicion that the man was enjoying himself too much to even bother lying, like he found the truth entertaining.

Jura, who was the only one present outside of Fairy tail to know of Hope's amnesia, spoke "I can see only one reason. That man knows who you really are."

"Oh well, looks like I'm caught." Deios said airily. "But still, you couldn't remember your own name? Boy, that report wasn't exaggerating. The phoenix's spirit really did almost destroy you, didn't it?"

"Phoenix spirit?" Hibiki repeated, remembering Endymion. "So that really was..."

Gray gave him a look that said 'Not now' before turning to Deios. "So what's your deal? You're one of _them?"_

Deios tilted his head a little, knowing exactly which dark guild they were thinking of "Oh you meant...Nah, I know about them enough. Still..." A smirk settled on his face. "...sure you should be wasting time on little old me? I thought you had enough of a mess on your hands as it were."

* * *

_That they do. Definitely._

_Well, I'll wrap it up and start the next chapter with Natsu and Cobra's fight. Hope you liked the chapter. _


	24. Chapter 24

This was one of the times where Natsu really appreciated his partner.

Had it not been for Happy's excellent flying, he knew he would've had a lot more trouble dealing with Cobra and his snake. To think when they first met, he thought Happy's wings were weird, now Cobra's snake was ten times stranger. What really made this fight hard was that Cobra seemed to anticipate their every move.

After Cobra told them that this was Nirvana, Natsu told Wendy and Carla to leave, find the others and bring them here. He had a feeling the worst of the battles was yet to come and they needed to work together to stop Oracion Seis. Although reluctant, the sky dragon slayer agreed and left with her partner, leaving Natsu and Happy to deal with the present problem.

"Natsu, you think the rest of Oracion Seis are trying to make sure it gets activated all the way?" Happy wanted to know.

"Yeah, they could be. Now we just have to deal with those two. Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Cobra smirked and aptly dodged the move "A little forgetful eh, Salamander? I can hear you both."

* * *

"Man, that guy was weird..." Gray commented. Their group was now continuing their trek through the woodsea just after Deios left.

"No kidding, besides the fact that he clearly knows about Hope more than anyone we've seen, he just let us walk away." Lucy agreed.

"Well, he did say something about being here to cause chaos or whatnot, right? Maybe he just didn't feel like fighting us," the ice mage remarked.

Lyon raised an eye "Normally I'd say you're taking this too lightly but with someone like him, you might be right."

Hope's expression said that he was thinking along similar lines. He had been quiet ever since Deios left, thinking to the man's remark just moments before that. When he tried to ask how Deios knew him, the man simply replied that they met over 7 years ago. That only meant it was in Aetheria, a place which Hope still had no absolutely no memory of.

Endymion had been even more silent, and Hope knew why. Deios had opened up a sore subject for the phoenix. He had been right, their fusion had almost destroyed Hope and Endymion still felt guilty for that no matter how many times they tried to talk him out of it. Hope never once blamed him, how could he when Endymion was just as much a victim of Demon Fang as he was? The phoenix was an irreplaceable friend, he'd been the one to support Hope when the boy had no one else, when he'd been utterly lost and alone and Hope was eternally grateful for that.

"I didn't expect him to really try and keep us over there anyway." Victor admitted.

"Why?" asked Sherry.

"That was a thought projection." He informed. "It makes sense, you remember what he said about wanting to cause chaos and whatnot? He's just going over the whole area and making sure he gets a load of everything."

"True...but did that just clue you both to it?" Hibiki asked, noting that Hope was the only one not surprised by the news.

"No," it was Jura who answered. "Memoria templars are known for their excellent control of magic. The ones with great skills can even sense magic in their surroundings, I would say we have two prime examples here."

"Well, I'm flattered," Victor said with a smirk at the compliment while Hope smiled a bit. He glanced at the younger templar then "See anything new?"

Hope hummed in thought as he looked around with Endymion enhancing his sight once more. At first there wasn't anything but then a sharp pain resounded in his skull, making him groan and clutch his head.

"Are you all right?"

"N-nirvana's just beyond that clearing." Hope managed, feeling a little dizzy for the pain had been a lot worse than before.

Everyone except Victor and Hoteye stopped and stared when they saw what he was talking about.

"_That's_ Nirvana?" Sherry's mouth fell at the sight of the old city.

"This whole time I thought it was just a spell..." Lucy mumbled. "...when it was a magical item."

* * *

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Happy frowned when he saw that Cobra avoided the move again. However Natsu surprised him by swiping at the flames from the roar with a Crushing Fang that caused the flames to swerve up towards Cobra and Cubelios. Cobra was too surprised to react in time and was burned a little as a result. Growling, he conjured more of the dark red substance they saw him use and swiped it to stop the flames.

"Hey, maybe we're starting to wear him down!" Happy said.

"No," Natsu scowled. "It only worked because I just thought of it, I don't think we'd get a shot like that again."

"And you'd be right." Cobra responded, startling them. "I have to admit you're not as dense as I thought you'd be. You noticed, didn't you? That's why you sent the little girl away."

"Noticed what?" Happy asked.

"There's someone here." Natsu replied, creating a Brilliant Flame and keeping it in his hand. "I can't tell who but I know I saw someone moving towards that big tower."

"Eh?! But then they could be..." Happy stopped as he realized what this meant.

"...operating Nirvana as we speak?" The cat stiffened as Cobra verbalized his thoughts. "That's right, cat. I guess Salamander over there is hoping to get you all together so you'd stop us in time. As if! You're all way above your heads."

"Oh yeah?" Happy demanded.

"Say that after your beat us!" Natsu added. He thrust his arm forward and instead of the usual flame, it changed into a tornado of flames that shot off at a good speed towards Cobra.

Happy stared "Since when can you do that?"

"Since Hope helped me figure out how to get better control over my spells." Natsu saw Cobra dodge but he expected that. "Let's keep it up, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Happy grinned when he saw the spell powering up from the fire tornado and decided to help along now that he could, picking Natsu up first "I'm with you all the way. Max Speed!"

* * *

"Do you have anything?" Lyon asked Hibiki.

They had gotten to the city a few minutes ago and had taken to searching around to see if there was anything they could do to stop it. Hibiki on the other hand was using his archive magic to analyze the structure.

The Blue Pegasus mage frowned "Not yet. This is harder than I thought. I've been trying to contact the others though. Wendy and Carla are heading towards us, apparently Natsu's fighting Cobra on the other side of the city. Senpai's bringing Eve and Ren with him, apparently they ran into one of Oracion Seis' members too."

"Good to know, hopefully they'll have some clue to our next step."

"Don't worry about it so much okay?" Hope assured, reminding Endymion that everything was fine and that he in no way, blamed the phoenix for anything.

"You've had this conversation a lot, huh?" Lucy commented, walking next to him.

"More times than I care to count. I just wish he'd listen." The boy replied with an exasperated sigh.

"Endymion's surprisingly more protective than I thought."

"He's always been like that. I don't really care what other people think, meeting him is one of the things I'll never regret." Hope stated firmly.

"You hear that, big guy?" Gray said. "He really does worry too much. If anybody needs to loosen..."

'Yes, well, I'd appreciate it if you would stop talking like I'm not here.' The phoenix interjected.

"Finally, he speaks." Hope remarked. Gray and Lucy laughed.

He could tell that Endymion was rolling his eyes. Though secretly, the phoenix was pleased at what he had heard from his old friend, this wasn't the time to get into that discussion.

Jura and Victor caught up with them as Endymion spoke 'I thought you'd like to know that Erza is nearby. And she's with...well, that's unexpected.'

"What is?" Hope prompted.

"Erza-dono is?" Jura questioned when Lucy told them this. Hope had given their allies some information about Endymion on their way, since their curiosity had been peaked again by Deios. "I thought Hope-dono couldn't use that sight magic now."

"I can't," the templar confirmed. "Nirvana mostly blocks it off from me but it hardly affects Endymion."

"I see..." He stopped when the knight mage appeared around a corner.

Erza smiled, looking relieved. "There you are."

While she knew meeting up with her friends would prove to be complicated due to her companion, things started up faster than Erza expected.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Gray demanded.

Hope looked at Erza "What's going on?"

* * *

"You okay, Happy?"

"Y-yeah, but what kind of magic is this?" The cat managed. The giant city had started moving so he'd taken to carrying Natsu whenever he could to avoid his partner's motion sickness. "His attacks just hurt at first but then it's like I'm getting more hurt and tired everywhere."

"I know what you mean." Natsu glanced at Cobra. Whenever they were hit, it felt like Cobra's attacks didn't do much damage at first but then Natsu realized he was starting to get sore and weaker.

"Well, this is taking longer than I thought." Cobra drawled. His snake hissed before releasing from its mouth a substance simliar to what what the man used. Natsu and Happy stopped and stared at the action, dumbfounded.

"What the..." The dragon slayer's mouth trailed off. "...he's..."

Cobra stopped and grinned "Yeah, I can eat Cubelios' poison just fine. It kind of comes with the territory with my magic. Let's see what you make of this." The same dark reddish black substance appeared on his fist before Cubelios charged towards the Fairy tail mages. "Poison Dragon's Fang Thrust!"

"Eh?! Whoa!" Happy yelped as he dodged the move. "That was...you're a dragon slayer?!"

"The poison dragon slayer." Cobra confirmed, clearly enjoying their shock.

"I never heard of a poison dragon before..." Natsu said thoughtfully.

"Really? Then Cobra could be like Laxus." Happy noted.

Natsu found himself agreeing when he remembered the S-class mage's dragon lacrima. Cobra then spoke "Oh, so you know another second generation dragon slayer?"

"What?"

"People like you and the sky sorceress are first generation dragon slayers." Cobra explained patiently. "Because you two supposedly learned your magic from a dragon. I, on the other hand, am a second generation slayer because I have a dragon lacrima that helped me get my magic."

"So...hey, wait, what's with the 'supposedly'?" Natsu demanded.

"I'm saying the way you picked your magic isn't clear. Dragons are extinct."

"No, they're not! Igneel taught me everything!"

"I wonder about that. Poison Dragon's Roar!"

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

* * *

Jellal watched the other alliance members fill Erza in on the events she missed and the knight mage doing the same, their expressions changing from wariness to confusion and back.

"Okay, so let me get this straight..." Victor said at last, directing his words to Jellal. "...you were in that coffin Brain tried so hard to find."

"Right."

"And he thought you knew how to activate Nirvana and that you'd help him. Except he was wrong on and Deios beat you to it."

Jellal confirmed again.

"So...where does that leave you?"

"I want to atone." He admitted. "I know I've done terrible things. I can't blame you for not trusting me but I want to do the best I can for now, that's all I can hope for."

Jura crossed his arms, thinking to himself that since Erza actually came all this way with him there shouldn't be any problem. He doubted that Jellal could actually fool her like this, especially if they knew each other for so long.

Gray looked doubtful, while Jellal was totally different from the last time they dealt with him, he just wasn't sure about this. A glance at Lucy told him that she was more or less thinking the same, though her attention was more on Erza. He sounded sincere but was this really all right?

"Erza..." Hope began, bringing everyone's attention to him as he eyed his sister figure and Jellal with a contemplative look. "...what do you make of this?"

"Well...to be honest, I wasn't sure. But...for all it's worth, I want to believe in him. I fully plan to make sure he repents for everything he did."

Hope looked at Jellal "We have enough trouble on our hands as it were. Can we at least count on you to help out?"

"Absolutely," he said immediately, actually surprised by how calm the boy was about this. "I still don't remember what exactly happened but I know enough. I don't ever want to go to being like that again."

"Well, then I'm satisfied." Hope said at last. Jellal's eyes widened but he listened to the boy as he said "If you're trying to change then who am I to say you can't? I can't speak for everyone but I'm good to go. As long as you keep your word, then I'll help you however I can. Let's get one thing clear though, if this does turn out to be a trick I'll do everything in my power to take you down."

Even when he didn't know the boy, Jellal could tell Hope meant every word. He took note of Erza's relief and Lucy's growing smile before responding "Fair enough. Thank you for this."

Gray then said "Hey, you sure about this?"

"If Erza's up to giving him a break then we shouldn't complain. We need all the help we can get at this point."

"Very true, I'm all right with this." Lucy nodded.

"Well, I'm not sure if my opinion would count but...for what it's worth, as long as they're okay with this, count me in." Victor said with a shrug.

"I see no problem with it." Jura added.

"Ahh, fine, I guess we're set." Gray conceded.

Jellal didn't speak until he was walking next to Erza behind their allies "You have a very kind teammate."

"He is, more than you know."

* * *

"They're going to Cait Shelter?!"

"Yeah, we just overheard their leader." Wendy informed. "Carla said it was better to tell you and...I don't know what to do! Why are they going there of all places?"

"Well, according to Hoteye, your guild has the descendants of the Nirvit. It could be that they might know a way to stop Nirvana for good." Hibiki guessed. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out. Where did you say Brain was going?"

"To that tower in the center, the tallest one."

"The others are going there too, you two go ahead, I'll get Lyon and the others to catch up."

"Right!"

* * *

Cobra swerved to dodge another strike, just barely succeeding "You're really persistent."

"We're not losing here, ready, Happy?"

"Yeah!"

The blue cat shot up and started using Max Speed, greatly increasing their speed. Natsu cast Fire Dragon's Wing Attack, with it coming out as fiery waves that lashed out at Cobra, who maneuvered Cubelios to dodge, grunting as the last one singed him. It suddenly hit him why, he had expected the attack but even Natsu didn't know how the spell would end up, meaning he lucked out again.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"

Happy let Natsu go at this, and the dragon slayer charged with great speed at Cobra, who smirked and hit him with a fistful of poison in the shoulder.

His eyes widened when Natsu grabbed his arm, ignoring his own pain and hit him with multiple Iron Fists. Cobra pushed him back with a Poison Dragon's Guard, only to be met with a two fire balls coming his way. He made to dodge but then the balls weren't even coming his way, rather they collided near Cobra and the explosion they caused threw him off his feet and burned him.

"How do you like that?" Natsu's grin vanished when he realized he was on Nirvana again. The structure was moving so his motion sickness kicked in. "D-damn it..."

"Hold on, I got you!" Happy quickly picked him up, relieving Natsu of any worse symptoms. A glance at their enemies showed that Cobra was flying with Cubelios' help once more. "Man, I wish we could just force him to get on the city, maybe he'd get sick too! Then he'd be easy picking."

"Dammit, this is getting us nowhere." Natsu scowled. He felt Happy shake a little. "You all right?"

"Yeah, it's just...that poison...I'll be fine." Happy insisted at his partner's concern. "I told you, I'm with you to the end. We're taking them down."

Natsu grinned "That's the spirit. I know I can count on you, partner!"

"Aye Sir!"

Cobra had a wistful smile at the scene, marveling at their strong bond.

"I'm all fired up and there's no way we'll lose." Natsu charged with a Crushing Fang, enhanced by Happy's Max Speed again. Cobra blocked it with a Poison Dragon guard, his eyes widened when the strike continued. He could see Happy forcing himself to keep flying in the same direction as Natsu continued attacking. Eventually they managed to burn through the shield and elbow Cobra but the man kicked Natsu back.

Seeing Natsu inhale, Cobra had expected that he would let out another fire roar only to be surprised when the teen let out a powerful bellow that seemed to resound through the area.

The older dragon slayer cried out at that. It was just a cry, he guessed it was possibly Natsu riling himself up or even letting out his frustration but for someone with enhanced hearing like Cobra, it was very painful. He saw Cubelios hissing in clear discomfort at the voice before his vision went black and he fell.

Happy, who had been cringing at the sound but refused to let Natsu go knowing what problems that could, smiled when he saw their enemies on the ground. "Natsu, I think that did it!"

"Oh yeah? Well..." He stopped when his exhaustion caught up and felt his vision turn blurry. Natsu knew Happy felt the same because the cat fell down and took him down with him a moment later. The poison was really starting to work on them now. "...we have to..."

Natsu never got to finish because he felt the motion sickness again. He wished one of their friends would find them now or at least they would stop Nirvana. Either would be pretty good right now.

* * *

"Does that mean someone in Cait Shelter knows how to stop this thing?" Erza questioned when Wendy and Carla finished telling them what they learned.

"I doubt it." The white cat replied. "We know we have descendants of the Nirvit in the guild but if they knew, I'm sure they would've mentioned something. Master would have tried to find out anything to help."

"That's true..."

"Well, the problem is Brain thinks they can stop it. Besides..." Victor stopped when they arrived at the top room of the tower. "...what..."

"He's not here," Lucy looked around but there was no one in sight. There was a podium in the center with a complex array of magic circles floating on top of it.

"So this is how he's controlling it..." Jura frowned. "...Victor-dono, Hope-dono, is it possible to erase this?"

The two templars tried a moment later, but the array glowed immediately and pushed them back. Victor winced "Guess whoever came up with this didn't leave any room for chance."

"What do we do now? That Brain guy was supposed to be..." Gray stopped when he felt something touch his foot and saw that it was a lacrima. "...where did this come from?"

He picked it up for a closer look. The item started glowing a moment later, making a surprised Gray drop it. The sphere hit the ground but the glow remained, it formed a screen of sorts right above the lacrima, before displaying an image. "Wait, a sieve lacrima?"

Sieve lacrimas were used to record events, they could even capture memories from others and display them for anyone to see.

"Does this have anything to do with our present problem?" Carla asked.

"Not sure, it was near the podium..." Gray supplied, glancing at the screen.

It now displayed an an image of a palace at night. Before it showed a number of rooms, one, which showed some maids watching three kids talking happily. The image of the palace came back once more, but it was from a further perspective. It was still somewhat grainy...

Suddenly, parts of the palace burst into flames, startling the watchers. The reason became clear when the screen displayed an image of a flying ship with a skull for a figure head. The ship had three cannons out, which hit the palace again. The images shifted, showing people running away in panic. Then some people who were heavily injured by the attack with others trying to help them.

Some rooms were in ruins while the others had gotten relatively better off. It seemed to be from the view of someone moving in a hurry. When the figure ran past a hall, a light flashed from outside, revealing a woman with white blond hair wearing a dark cloak. The woman's dark blue eyes narrowed as she looked around before going to a room. This one was in shambles as well. The watchers stared in horror when they realized that everyone they had seen in the room before was dead. The lacrima started zooming in before stopping near the kids, it went particularly close to one of them before the images promptly stopped and the lacrima's light faded.

"What...was that?" Lucy managed, feeling sick at the awful sights.

_'Just now, that kid was...'_ Jellal's eyes traveled to Hope, knowing he wasn't the only who noticed, judging by Wendy, Lucy and Jura's similarly shocked expressions at the boy.

At first, Hope seemed completely bewildered. He was as a white as a sheet ever since the lacrima stopped but now...now he seemed scared. Other than that, pain, shock and sadness took turns kicking in his gut.

Only Endymion realized why. He understood just what this was about now. That lacrima hadn't just shown what he knew to be the worst day in his friend's life but it forced Hope to remember something that he had, without realizing it, avoided for sometime now. Things were finally adding up for both of them and it was hitting Hope hard. Endymion had to restrain the fury he felt for his friend at the new revelation. This was just too much...

Hope started when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see it was Erza's.

The knight mage frowned, she could see how badly this had affected him but it wasn't the time. As cruel as it may be, they had other things to take care of now.

"I'm not sure what's going on and by the looks of it, we won't have time for any explanation. We need to finish what we started now and stop Oracion Seis for good."

Knowing she was right but not trusting himself to speak, Hope nodded and mentally shook himself. He had to calm down, he knew...but try as he might, he couldn't shake one thought.

_'So I was this ignorant...'  
_

* * *

The group didn't know it but they had actually just missed Brain by a few minutes. The man had sensed Cobra's losing to Natsu and so went to the battlefield. He found Cobra slowly walking up to Natsu, preparing to strike.

Cobra froze as he felt some strong hit him on the back. He staggered for a moment "Brain...why?"

Even as he said it, the man could hear the answer. Their leader thought them all to be trash, because they were losing. So in his mind they were disposable.

"What the heck!?" Natsu demanded. "He's your comrade! Why would you do back stab him?"

"Comrade? Don't make me laugh. Subordinate would be a better word." Brain said flatly, taking a step forward. "Still...you are an interesting one, Natsu Dragneel. After I'm done with Cait Shelter, I'll make you a member of the new Oracion Seis."

"No way!"

"Wait, why are you going to Wendy and Carla's guild?" asked Happy.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out, cat." Brain started dragging Natsu off.

"D-dammit, lemme go!" Natsu tried to move, but he was too worn out from the battle and his motion sickness to put up a fight.

"Natsu!" Happy couldn't do much of anything either. "No..."

A light orb suddenly dropped in front of Brain and burst, blinding him. A golden blur then came, taking Natsu and Happy up.

"Lucy!"

"Endymion!"

The celestial mage grinned "Did anybody order a rescue?"

Natsu blinked, seeing Gray, Carla, Victor and Erza next to her while Jura, Wendy and Jellal were flying in a translucent sphere of light next to them. "Whoa, what the...what're they doing here?!"

"Long story short, they're on our side." Gray informed. "I know, I know. We'll fill you in on the details later. Just know they're here to help."

"All right..." A confused Natsu conceded.

Jura jumped out of the Star shield and landed in front of Brain. Erza was about to do the same when something caught her eye and she saw Midnight fighting against the rest of their friends a few feet away.

"Can you send me there, Endymion? I'll leave him to you all."

'Very well,' Endymion stopped when he sensed Wendy and Jellal stepping in the sphere he was making for the scarlet haired mage.

"I can support everyone there and heal their injuries."

"I'll be with them. It'll be good to have all the help we can get on both fronts."

'Good point. There you go then.' With a slight wave of his wing, the sphere went towards the other battlefield.

With nothing else in the way, Endymion lowered everyone to the ground in time to see Jura attacking Brain.

"Why are you going after Cait Shelter?" The wizard saint demanded. "What are you up to?"

"Hmph, and why should I answer you? You think you have a chance, your little mission is doomed to failure."

Gray scowled "That's what you think, Ice Cannon!"

* * *

Things weren't going too well for the other members of the alliance. Most of them were pretty worn and Midnight's magic was proving to be very troublesome. For some reason he seemed to manage to deflect all the attacks they sent his way except Ichiya's.

The Blue Pegasus mage had been doing very well against Midnight, the only problem being the mage's illusions. That and the fact that Ichiya had spared no expense to protect Ren and Eve, who had been injured when he found them and were made targets by Midnight, had been the facts that turned the battle in the dark mage's favor.

Hoteye was faring slightly less well, being less experienced in close combat then Ichiya but he knew enough about Midnight to at least be able to support his new allies to some extent. Problem was, he was just as worn as the others.

Sherry was almost as worn out, nothing they tried seemed to work. For crying out loud it seemed that he was toying with them. Lyon had engaged in close combat with Midnight and was faring good until the latter seemed to sense something and pushed him back before turning to the new arrivals.

"What do you know," he smirked. "You might just make this worth my time."

* * *

Natsu was confused when Hope created a sphere of light to surround him, wondering if the boy was trying to keep him away from the fight.

"Don't do this, Hope! I can fight...I just...need..."

"You need some a break." Hope interjected. "Besides, that's not why I did it. Didn't you notice?"

Natsu gave him a quizzical look before suddenly realizing what the sphere was really for. "Hey, I don't feel sick anymore!"

"That was the point." Hope responded. "We'll take over. Once you feel better, you can get out."

"Oh, all right..."

"Dark Capriccio!"

"Iron Rock Wall!"

Brain scowled as he watched Jura block his spell yet again, looking as determined as ever.

"Jura's something else, isn't he?" Gray said.

"You can say that again..." Lucy frowned in thought. "...you know I could have sworn there were more lines on Brain's face before."

Victor's eyes narrowed "Now that you mention it..."

"Ah, you're thinking too much." Gray said with a dismissing wave of his hand. He didn't see how that mattered now. "Come on, let's give him a hand!"

"Force!" Victor called, a second later Brain felt the gravity around double and force him down. Growling, he managed to fire a Dark Rondo towards Victor, who aptly dodged it.

"Let's keep this going. Ice make: Ice impact!" Gray cast, taking advantage of Victor keeping the enemy in place.

"We will. Lucy, can you summon Loke-san?" Hope asked.

"Sure! Gate of the Lion, I open thee: Loke!" The spirit appeared a second later. "You ready?"

"You know it." Loke smiled reassuringly. "So this is the enemy then?"

"Yeah, are you up to trying 'that'?" Hope prompted.

Loke smirked "I thought you'd never ask, Hope. Let's go."

Brain saw the two charging and fired a dark spell towards them but with the speed they were going it just missed. After the first cast Accel force, Hope and Loke stomped a foot in the ground, two rings of light surrounded Brain then. Undaunted, the guild master decided to keep going, only to cringe when he felt the rings glow, blinding him once more for a few moments.

The next thing he knew Hope and Loke had gotten much closer. Light surrounded their fists as they struck him, both making him stagger with fists to the gut before striking him with a combination of punches and kicks that left Brain reeling. The two jumped back then, Hope created two light blasts, one shot at Loke, who grabbed it with a shining fist while the other stayed with him.

"Noble Roar!"

Loke and Hope punched Brain again with all their strength, sending him crashing into the wall.

"Damn, you two..." Gray let out. They were in complete sync, their magic meshed together to strengthened Loke's as he moved in for the final blow. That must have taken quite the work to perfect.

"That was awesome, guys!" Happy cheered.

"Yeah, nice work!" Natsu praised.

Jura smiled, joining them. "Indeed, impressive combination. However..." He frowned when Brain re-emerged. "...I'm afraid we're not done."

"No, you're not. By far. Dark Capriccio: Scream!"

The wizard grunted when the new spell broke through his wall, even when he tried to reinforce it. He then realized that Brain was actually aiming at the others.

Scowling, Victor stepped up and cast Zero Ray, effectively negating the beam that came near them. Brain was then forced to dodge Gray's ice lances coming from his right which were coming faster thanks to Hope's accel force and Loke's Regulus Impact coming from above.

"We're good here, Jura. Just do me a favor and beat him up good." Victor said.

Jura smiled "I'd be glad to, Victor-dono."

Concentrating his power, he raised a number of rocks spears that launched themselves at Brain, who destroyed them with his dark magic. Looking supremely unconcerned, Jura manipulated the rocks left behind into striking Brain again, this time getting more rocks, including part of the walls he had used earlier. With a wave of his hand, the rocks gathered around Brain, trapping him.

"Now, Supreme King Rock Crush!"

The powerful spell felled the guild master, whose single thought at the moment was his prayer: for Midnight not to lose.

* * *

"All right, that's enough now." Eve told Wendy as she continued healing them. "You've done a great job, Wendy-chan but you need to save your strength."

"Yeah. More importantly, if you can spare the magic, focus on helping them." Lyon added, cocking his head towards the battle of Midnight vs. Erza and Jellal.

"Meteor!"

Midnight watched Jellal calmly, not even fazed by the show of impressive speed. He avoided Jellal's following kick but that left him in the path of Erza, who had donned her Morning Star Armor.

"Photon Slicer!"

The following energy blast was kept away from Midnight by his magic. Undaunted, Erza charged him, only to stop when her swords suddenly bent sideways and her armor started twisting and strangling her. After a moment of thought, Erza changed back to the Heart Kreuz armor and jumped back.

"He can even twist her weapons like that? This is too much..." Sherry said.

"Hardly!" Erza equipped the Heaven's Wheel Armor and got a number of swords out.

Deciding to try a somewhat different approach, Jellal threw dark magic blasts at Midnight, they never met their target. Jellal then created a hand made of darkness to stop the mage in his tracks before throwing a spear of fire at him.

This sent Midnight crashing to the ground. Jellal then decided to go for a closer attack only to be surprised when something suddenly made him stop moving. He felt something rather heavy before pain overwhelmed to the point of forcing him on his kness.

"Jellal!"

He raised his head at Erza's voice only to stiffen in surprise when he saw Midnight, no more harmed than he saw him before standing in front of him. The blue haired mage grit his teeth when he realized he had fallen for Midnight's illusions.

"Isn't it about time you stopped this act?"

"Act?"

"You know what I mean." Midnight responded. "You're trying to play the hero when the truth of the matter is that you're about as evil as they come. Amnesia or not, you must have heard about your actions before."

Jellal grimaced when he remembered Deios' words on the subject, then hearing his enemy continue "We're not really different, you and I. You betrayed your oldest friends in that tower, one of them died and Erza almost would have if it hadn't been for the other Fairy tail mages. I'm surprised she's actually all right with you being here. I know I wouldn't be. You're a traitor."

"T-That's not true!"

Midnight smirked "You know, strange as he was, that man in the cloak was right. You would fit in great with us."

"That's a lie! I won't deny what I did. I can tell how much damage I caused. But I've been given a chance to repent, and I fully plan to take it! I'm nothing like you!" Jellal declared. He wouldn't back down now. Despite their doubts, the alliance had trusted him and he would have been a fool to waste that.

Midnight scowled, deciding to just attack him then.

"Well said!"

He stopped at the voice before seeing a number of swords coming from directly above and he quickly deflected them. Erza stepped up next to Jellal, using two swords to keep the blades Midnight had sent towards them away.

"You're strong, Titania. I'm actually entertained, can you keep this up until we get to Cait Shelter?"

Jellal stood "Why are you going there?"

"It was just like we suspected. The members of Cait Shelter know how to seal Nirvana again." Hoteye informed.

"Do you honestly think we'll let you get away with this?" Erza demanded.

"Oh, please, you can talk tough all you want. You can't do a thing against me." Midnight dismissed.

Erza's eyes narrowed, re-equipping into a new armor. The purple, pink and white kimono like one that was her Robe of Yuen. She tightened her hold on the spear in her hand. "That's enough out of you. Jellal, I trust you're ready to back me up?"

Surprise colored his face for a moment before he smiled, knowing this meant she believed in him and answered "Of course."

Without another word, Erza ran at Midnight. She knew exactly what to do and it was partly thanks to Jellal that she figured how to end the fight. Midnight bent her spear like she expected, only to stop in shock when she punched him with her other hand. She stepped back and Jellal flew in with Meteor, giving him a speedy kick that made him hit the ground.

He watched Erza grab Midnight and throw him over her shoulder, eyes widening as a realization strike. "I see...so his Reflector magic can't bend human bodies the way it did with spells and objects."

Erza smirked "Exactly."

"What?"

"So that's why he never tried it against senpai..." Ren trailed off, glancing at Ichiya, who seemed just as surprised by the news.

"Also, when you tried that combination, he only got out because he reflected that dark hand. Which means it only one works on one object at a time." Erza added.

She flinched when her armor suddenly twisted like before and began strangling her. Midnight pulled himself up "So what if you figured it out? It doesn't make you any less susceptible to my magic."

"Actually..." Erza directed her spear to fly towards him, her armor loosened a moment later. "...that's why I picked this armor. It's made of elastic material, so I would beg to differ."

"Then this whole time, she was trying to figure his magic out." Carla realized.

"That makes sense, he was asleep in our first fight and even then he got out unharmed. That's the infamous Titania for you, what incredible skill." Hibiki remarked.

Wendy smiled "Yeah, Erza-san's amazing!"

Jellal completely agreed with that statement, watching the subject of their conversation strike Midnight again. Seeing that he was about to cast more magic, Jellal used Grand Chariot to hit him with numerous beams of light. Midnight managed to dodge a number of them, but then he was overcome by the sheer number. He barely managed to right himself before he hit the ground only to see Erza running towards him, weapon at the ready before she slashed.

Midnight fell to the ground. "This...can't be..."

With that, the last of Oracion Seis had fallen.

* * *

The other members of the alliance had gone back to the King's Summit, wondering that now that Brain was defeated, they could find a way to stop Nirvana. Sadly, they came up with nothing.

Natsu saw Gray stop for a moment, his eyes falling on a lacrima on the ground. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing, nothing..." He trailed off, not wanting to get into that subject now. It was just that he truly understood why Hope wouldn't talk about his past now.

A glance at his rival made him curious about something. "...so how the heck are you standing in that and not getting sick?"

'That' being the sphere of light Hope had used earlier. Natsu spoke up "I don't know. I figured I would be but it feels just fine. I knew it'd be bad if I get out now so I didn't. There's got to be some way to stop this thing."

"Hope, Victor, can't you guys make it freeze in time or something?" Happy asked curiously.

"We would if it was possible," the latter replied. "But the magic would be repelled by Nirvana's own, it's too strong. That's what keeping Hope from using his sight magic."

"Oh yeah...but it's still going to Cait Shelter..."

"Yeah, and I don't have a clue to deal with this..." Lucy bemoaned, having tried to look at the magic array up close. She had no idea what to make of it and so started thinking of a way to deal with the other problem. "...maybe we could, I don't know...destroy or at least damage one of its legs or something?"

"Hey, that could work!" Natsu exclaimed.

"What? Come on, it's the first thing that came to my mind..."

"That doesn't make it any less useful," Hope pointed out. "If it works than all the more better for us."

"No problem here," Victor said.

"Yeah, if it stops him whining then I'm good to go," Gray nodded.

"All right..." Hope let Endymion take control and the phoenix bent to let him, Natsu and Victor climb on.

"I still don't see how come you're okay with Happy and Endymion carrying but you got all sick when I had to carry you." Lucy grumbled.

Natsu gave her an odd look "I told you, they're family. You're the one who was acting like they're transportation."

"Lucy's just weird like that." Happy added sagely.

"I'm just asking why he gets sick around me too!"

"Okay, enough messing around." Gray said. "Let's get going."

'All right...' Endymion took off.

Moments later, a big energy beam shot off from the bottom of the tower and struck the phoenix, creating a smokescreen.

"What..."

"Endymion!"

Lucy, Happy and Jura sighed in relief when the phoenix came out moments later, looking mostly unharmed. The reason became clear when a Star Shield flashed around him.

'Now I see...' Endymion's eyes narrowed.

"See what?" Natsu prompted.

'Why Nirvana never stopped. The battle's not over yet. Look there.'

Everyone turned their gazes down to where Brain was and were surprised to see him standing.

"He can still fight after all that?" Victor wondered.

Endymion had a feeling that it wasn't quite so simple '...Something's off. Keep your guard up.'

The figure stared up at them, an almost feral grin settling on his face.

"Well, I finally get to have some fun."

* * *

_Another chapter done!_

_By the way, I'm going to be explaining the part about Hope's two memories when the battle's over and they get everything settled. I think it's the best time for it and you can bet the people who saw the lacrima will want some answers. What I'll tell you for now is this _

_Yeah, one of the kids was Hope and as I'm sure you can guess by the images, it was a very dark day. The lacrima was old so the recording definitely could have been better but it was made by someone who had a close up perspective of that attack. Another character who ties in with the story, So by the end of the arc, which should be in the next chapter or the start of the one after that, tops. I've got the next chapter like halfway planned now._

_Please read and review! _


	25. Chapter 25

_Erza: Well, Solana, I have to say I didn't expect you to get this chapter out now._

_You and me both. I figure since it's the end of the year and whatnot, let's start 2016 with a bang. I think this one fits seeing as it's the one most packed with action. _

_Erza: Very true. It seems you're a hard worker._

_Ah, I just like what I do. Disclaimer, please?_

_Erza: Certainly. Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail, what she does own would be her plot and OCs._

* * *

Endymion landed on the tower and bent to let all the passengers down, all the while keeping a careful eye on Brain. He had a feeling that something was wrong but he couldn't see what it was.

"How the heck can he fight after all that?" Natsu asked the question for all of them.

"You fools!" A new voice cried. Confused, everyone except Victor looked around the area and found nothing.

Victor just sighed and went to a pile of rubble before digging a bit. Moments later, he revealed an old staff with a skull head that had some feathers attached to it. "I thought it was you."

"Well, if it isn't the traitor!" The staff retorted.

Victor responded by smacking the staff's head to the ground, making it yelp. "I'd have to be on your side first for that to count, you idiot."

"That thing can talk?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, it's just about the biggest pain in the neck you'll find around here." Victor responded.

"I'd like to say the same thing back to you!" The staff snapped. "I'm Klodoa, the final member of Oracion Seis! You idiotic humans have no idea what you've done..."

"Oh, save it. You're all finished anyway!" Happy retorted.

"As if! Especially not after you released _him..." _Klodoa fretted.

"What're you talking about?" Lucy demanded.

Endymion's eyes narrowed "He means that really isn't Brain after all."

"What?"

Klodoa glanced at Endymion "The phoenix is right. Master Zero has returned..."

* * *

"So you really don't remember anything?" Carla clarified as their group went to the control tower to meet the others.

Jellal shook his head, noticing her glance at Wendy then.

The girl gave her a little smile before speaking, knowing that Carla was about to explain their meeting. She didn't like that Jellal had no memory of her but it couldn't be helped. Wendy thought they could always talk about it later if necessary. "Then let's leave it at that."

She looked back "Do you think they'll be all right?"

Just a little while ago, the trimens, Sherry, Lyon had all left Nirvana once Hibiki asked for their help. All he had said was that there was something important he needed their help with.

"I believe so. They're all strong. Your magic has helped them plenty, let's go meet up with the others. Maybe they worked something out to stop Nirvana." Erza said.

"Right!" They quickened their pace to catch up with the rest of their group.

* * *

It was insane.

Just moments after Klodoa finished talking, Zero arrived. The staff was completely terrified even as it moved away, watching the guild master address the alliance members. He pretty much explained the same thing Klodoa did. He was the destructive side of Brain sealed by organic link magic, evident in the lines on Brain's face. He mockingly thanked them for releasing him before attacking.

He was much stronger than Brain, dodging or just taking all attacks his enemies used before striking back with fierce power.

"Dark Capriccio!"

Gray cringed as the spell shattered his ice shield and would have thrown him off the tower had Endymion not caught him at that moment. Jura cast another Rockiron wall which he tried to reinforce to defend against the continuous dark magic coming his way but unlike before, this one destroyed the wall and hit him hard.

Zero smirked "Now then...Zero Slash!" He laughed as he watched them hurry and dodge the sharp looking dark spell. "What's wrong? Are you done already?"

He saw that Endymion was flying up with the others. "Oh, come on, you're making it too easy. Zero Slash!"

"Everyone make sure you hold on." Endymion instructed before descending quickly. Light gathered at his wings, making them give a powerful shine. He saw the approaching dark spell and spun left to dodge them. His eyes widened when the spell just went after them. Thinking fast, he spun again and thrust his wings forward, sending out waves of light that hit Zero's spell, effectively stopping it.

"Nice, Endymion!" Happy praised.

Lucy groaned "Any chance you can take it easy on the spinning next time?"

"Suck it up..." Gray stopped when he felt Endymion shake a little "...Oi, don't tell me..."

"...I'm afraid that didn't work the way I imagined it would." The phoenix admitted reluctantly.

"Not bad. I'm surprised you dealt with the spell the way you did." Zero admitted. "But..."

He suddenly dashed, using a Dark Capriccio at closer range that forced Endymion to land as he attempted to dodge it only for him to power the spell up and hit the phoenix. Zero dashed, fists already surrounded with dark magic, Natsu and Gray stepped up to face him.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

"Ice Make: Cannon!"

Zero's sneer just widened "Dark Delete!"

He sent out dark spheres that struck them down. An array of rocks arose to block his path before boulders moved out of the ground and launched themselves at him. Calmly, Zero dodged the pieces and looked at Jura.

"Is that all?"

"Hardly." The wizard saint replied. "Rockiron Titan!"

Zero jumped up to dodge the looming rock giant behind him before casting Zero Slash to destroy it but another appeared and managed to strike him. Scowling, Zero focused his magic.

"Dark Capriccio Stream!"

Jura hurried into action upon seeing the spell coming "Rockiron Wall!"

* * *

"Ugh..."

"Thanks Jura, you really came through." Gray sighed.

"You're welcome. I wish there was more I could do to stop him." He replied, waiting for Hope to finish taking care of his injuries. Erza's group had found them minutes ago and Wendy wasted no time in using her healing magic. Once she was done with Hope, he started using Athena's veil to help her out.

"Wendy-dono, Hope-dono, we all appreciate what you've done but I think you need to stop." When the two looked ready to protest, Jura continued. "After all this time, I think we're all tired. You need to conserve your magic for emergencies, after all we're coming up by the end now."

"Jura's right. We're going to see this through so no need for concern." Hoteye added.

"Exactly, save it for when we really need it." Gray said.

_"So you fools really haven't give up yet." _

Zero's voice made them all stiffen in alarm before turning back to the tower, seeing the top room starting to glow.

"It's time!"

"Is that..."

Hoteye's mouth fell a little "Nirvana!"

_"That's right, traitor. Now watch as Cait Shelter becomes the first target!"_

"NO!"

Seconds before the blast was fired, one of Nirvana's legs was struck by none other than Christina!

Noticing that Nirvana had stopped, no one had a time to react before a familiar voice reached their minds.

_"Everyone, can you hear me?" _

_"We can, Hibiki." _Hoteye answered. _"So this is what you were up to."_

_"Yeah, I thought we could make some use of Christina just in case."_

_"Well done," _Erza praised.

_"Thank you, but I'm afraid that's all we can do. We're barely keeping the ship floating as it were." _Hibiki informed. _"The only way to stop Nirvana now is to blow up its legs. There are seven lacrima giving the cannon power. They have to be destroyed at the same time or the other lacrima will just regenerate the one that was already destroyed."_

_"At the same time? How the heck do we do that?" _Natsu asked for the whole group.

_"Don't worry, I can give you a map and..."_

_"You make that sound so easy." _Everyone started at Zero's voice. _"I'm amazed you can use Archive as well, boy. But your little plan is doomed to failure. For I will be waiting at one of the lacrimas and I will be sure to destroy any of you fools who comes my way."_

Ignoring the threat, Hibiki gave everyone a map to the lacrimas and a timer before Nirvana was ready to fire again. _"I'm sorry but we're all too exhausted to be of any help. Who's picking which route? Keep in mind that whoever finds Zero will likely have to fight him on their own." _

Natsu immediately picked the first lacrima, Gray chose the second, Jura the third, Lucy the fourth, Erza the fifth. Wendy and Jellal had the sixth while Hope and Victor had the seventh one.

_"Then good luck, we're counting on you."_

Christina started falling before Gray smacked a fist against his open palm "Okay, what're we waiting for? Let's do this!"

Everyone voiced their agreement and turned to leave. Erza stopped Jellal before he could "Go with Natsu." At his surprised look, she added. "I had a hunch that he picked that lacrima on purpose. With his senses, he should be able to tell if Zero is there. Endymion just checked for me and he is. You should be able to help."

"Right." He nodded and changed direction to follow the dragon slayer.

"What're you getting all nervous for now?" Carla demanded of Wendy when she saw the girl's expression. "This definitely isn't the time. You know what we have to do."

"Yeah, but...I can't use offensive magic, remember? I don't know how I'm supposed to do this."

"It isn't that you can't, you just don't know how." The girls turned around to see Hope walking up to them. "You've been doing great so far. If you try and really tap into your dragon slayer magic, I know you can work it out. It may be harsh now but none of us have a choice. We came this far, so let's make sure this mission ends well for everyone, okay?"

Wendy smiled and nodded. Carla looked relieved "That's better. It isn't as if you're going to be alone anyway. Let's go."

"Right. Thank you, both of you."

* * *

"For all that talk, you're more tired than you were letting on." Victor noted as the three of them continued towards their destination.

"Doesn't that go for everyone?" Hope asked, having stopped to catch some breath moments ago. "I want to make sure my friends' guild will be safe. I wasn't going to just lie down now."

"What do you know, I'm right there with you. We better do this right."

'I couldn't agree more. The lacrima's just ahead.' Endymion told the templars.

When they reached it a minute later, a blast of magic descended.

* * *

Zero smirked when he saw Natsu "So it was you. Good, time to see for myself if you're worthy of joining the new Oracion Seis."

"No chance in hell. Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

"Zero Slash!"

Natsu's eyes widened when he saw the spell and he changed direction to avoid it.

"Dark Capriccio!"

Natsu jumped to avoid the next move before aiming a Dragon Roar at his opponent who simply put his hands out. The teen's mouth fell when he saw that Zero seemed completely fine after taking it.

"No way!"

"Come on, is that all? Don't forget, if you don't beat me, your little plan will never work." Zero sneered.

"I don't need you to tell me that!" Natsu charged again.

Hope and Victor jumped away to dodge the sudden attack. The second frowned as they looked around "Wha...who's there?"

At Endymion's warning, Hope immediately took out his pistol and fired, the bullet ended up hitting a sphere of lightning that was about to hit them.

"Not bad." Deios appeared in the other entrance, smirking at them. "Did that little bird tell you I was still here?"

Victor took out his spear "Not this again. When are you planning to really show yourself?"

Deios laughed "Oh so you did notice? Interesting, you're better than I thought. Well, I can have the most fun this way, it's not the time to really fight just yet. I just want to see if _her _kid has gotten strong for now."

The two looked confused, because they knew the comment was once again aimed at Hope. Unfortunately, they still had no idea what he was talking about. Deios was clearly enjoying the confusion he was causing. "Ah, you've forgotten even that? Well, she'd be heartbroken. But then again she must think you're dead. Guess that means, like the rest of your family, she figured you didn't have much worth."

Victor scowled, remembering something Gray mentioned on their way here about Hope getting adopted by their guild master after he was abandoned by his family over 6 years ago. He didn't know the full story but that was a clear indicator of how much the boy went through. It didn't matter if Deios knew Hope's mother, he had no right saying those things.

Hope's eyes narrowed. That used to hurt, but he stopped caring what those people thought of him. A part of his family was currently fighting to stop this mess and he was determined to do everything in his power to help them.

"...You're not here to tell me something I already know, are you?"

"So you want to cut to the chase, kid? No problem." Deios's hands swirled with magic. "Entertain me!"

* * *

"Dark Delete!"

The spell was blocked by a number of shining magic blasts, which seemed a little familiar to Natsu, but he couldn't remember where he saw that spell before.

Zero had the answer as he looked at the entrance Natsu used "...Jellal."

"Eh?" Natsu followed his line of sight and stared at the blue haired mage. If he hadn't seen the man going with his friends normally, he would've at least punched him now. Still, seeing him on their side after his former meeting with the man was something to get used to. "You're...actually helping me?"

"I am. Erza told me you chose this place on purpose so I came." He answered.

Well, he supposed he could work with that. While he wanted to take Zero alone, Natsu reminded himself that they were on a time limit and an emergency situation. He smirked "Think you can keep up?"

Jellal gave him an amused look "Let's find out."

* * *

Deios smirked "Storm Lance!"

A magic circle flashed before a gale blew around Hope and Victor, then a crackling lance descended, causing a smoke screen.

"Oh no, is that all?..." Deios stopped when something flashed in the smoke. Moments later, he could see that Hope had cast a shield of light to protect them.

Victor cast another gravity spell before charging to strike Deios, but then the man disappeared.

'How could he just...' Endymion began.

But Hope knew. "He's the one behind that illusion we destroyed."

'Ah, I'd almost forgotten about that. Then...' Endymion concentrated. '...he's casting another spell, to Victor's left.'

Hope immediately fired a round of bullets at the appointed direction. Following his lead, Victor used his magic on himself to float up before descending. A silver aura appeared around him then. Victor, knowing that Deios was trying to freeze him, stopped that with his own magic and continued his attack. For a moment, he seemed like a silver meteor that destroyed the area he struck.

Deios reappeared "What do you know, that's better than what I expected. Well then, try this!"

Before they could react, he cast Accel force on himself...

* * *

"Meteor!"

Zero sneered as he saw Jellal zooming in, casting Zero Slash, only for the blue haired mage to dodge. Jellal still kept the spell up and charged.

"This again? What makes you think it would work now?"

"Actually..." A smirk played on Jellal's lips as he got close before a magic circle appeared. Moments later, the ground underneath Zero rose up like a pillar. "...I'm fairly sure I'm not that predictable. Darkness Cage!"

Natsu watched as the spell unfolded, trapping the man in. He whistled "Hey, not bad! Fire Dragon's Roar!"

"Grand Chariot!"

The two stiffened in surprise when a wave of magic pierced through the roar _and _the dark spell, destroying them. Zero stepped up, seeming mostly unharmed "I have to say it's a wonder how much amnesia affects a person. You're really intent on going through with this doomed mission? What a fool!"

"Doomed? Says who? We're still here!" Natsu pointed out.

"Not for long. It's time to destroy you. Dark Delete!"

The spheres that appeared were larger and faster but Natsu and Jellal were barely able to dodge it. Natsu was about to attack but then Zero cried out "Dark Capriccio Stream!"

The two cried out in pain as the powered up stream hit them. Zero watched them pull themselves off the ground "Good, you're not done. Seeing as you still have form, I'm just getting started!"

* * *

"Roaring Tempest!"

Deios conjured a powerful burst of wind that threw his opponents off their feet. This was followed by blasts of memoria magic and lightning that left them unable to defend themselves.

"My, and you really wanted me to go all out when you can't handle this much? Pathetic! I'm doing you a f..." Deios never got to finish because of the powerful force making him fall then.

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Victor asked as he stood.

Deios pulled himself up, grunting. "You won't keep me down for long."

He smirked "Who says I have to?"

"Calamity Drive!"

Two pillars of light struck Deios at that moment, making him roar in pain. This was followed by 3 more which lined up in a triangle formation to trap the man. When Deios disappeared, Hope used Flash Rondo to go up high and attack with his swords. This gave the enemy time to grab him by the throat. Looking unfazed, Hope let Endymion take over, leaving Deios stunned and blinded from the transformation which made him an easy target for Endymion's Nova Blast.

"Guh...!" Deios fell. "...Well, you're better than I thought. Guess this might make things interesting. Walk away with your little victory now, I assure you it won't happen again."

And with that he disappeared in a sphere of darkness, leaving the cloak behind.

Victor let out a breath "The worst's almost over."

'Agreed, now all that's left it...' Endymion trailed off as they turned their attention to the lacrima.

* * *

"Altairis!"

Zero took in Natsu's Crushing Fang without a hitch so he could hit the dragon slayer with a Dark Capriccio Stream up close. Then he dodged the sphere when he saw it coming. "That's all you can do? I did teach you magic, of course I know what you're up to. You disappoint me, Jellal. However_,_ Natsu Dragneel...it'll be a shame to crush someone so talented. But the end has come, Genesis Zero!"

* * *

"Wha..." Natsu hadn't been able to react in time when the spell pulled him in to this place. It...looked like a land of death. He was sure that he heard people moaning and saw the shadows around him move.

But that was it. He couldn't see anything but darkness as far as his eyes took him.

"Dammit...I gotta get outta here, but how?" He wondered. "I can barely move..."

_"So is this it?" _

Natsu froze at the familiar voice coming. He hadn't seen the owner of that voice in so long but there was no way he could forget him. For this was someone he yearned to see with all his heart.

The voice continued, confirming his suspicion. _"You're a son of Igneel. Letting yourself lose now is just pathetic, didn't I teach you better than this?" _

Natsu remembered one of his lessons with Igneel where he was reminded to always believe in his abilities.

_"Natsu, you're a dragon slayer. You should never forget the pride that comes with the title. You can do this, I have no doubt." _

The teen grinned as the words sank in, feeling his power rise up. Flames danced around him then.

_"Never forget that I'll always be proud of you."_

* * *

"Just give it up! That dragon slayer is finished and you're next!" Zero cackled.

Jellal surprised him by summoning golden flames which he proceeded to hurl at the Genesis Zero, the caster of which just laughed.

"Such a puny flame can't possibly destroy my Genesis Zero!"

But Jellal simply ignored him and kept his eye on the sphere. A minute later, it began to light up and until a golden glow surrounded it on the inside before it burst, revealing Natsu jumping up with the golden fire.

"That can't be!"

Natsu smirked. "Thanks for the meal. Now I'm all fired up!"

Jellal smiled, he could tell that Erza, for all her concern had truly believed in Natsu and he could see why. His own knowledge of the dragon slayer identified him as a ray of hope. He trusted that Natsu could defeat Zero.

"Dark Rondo!"

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

Zero's eyes widened when his spell was stopped by the fiery waves. "How is this possible?"

Natsu roared and attacked once again "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

He used this to strike Zero's stomach before punching and kicking him some more before tackling him down a Fire Dragon's Sword Horn.

Zero pulled himself moments later "So this is Dragon Force...the destructive power of a dragon. Very interesting, let's see it! Dark Gravity!"

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise as the floor crumbled but he used his flames to propel himself to the next level, not before using another Wing Attack to hit Zero.

"Dark Delete!"

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Natsu had managed to hit his enemy but at the same time, a part of the dark spell had struck him. Still, he charged through, determined to keep going.

"I'm the Master of Oracion Seis! A mere brat like you can never keep up with me!" Zero roared, preparing to cast another spell.

"You just don't get it! I'm not alone. Everyone...their feelings are all with me! They're supporting me to keep going! And I don't plan on letting them down!" At that, the golden flames appeared once again, swirling around Natsu's feet

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art, Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade!"

Concentrating all his strength into this move, Natsu slammed into Zero, sending him straight into the lacrima.

* * *

At the same time...

Gray had an ice cannon ready, thanks to Hibiki's timer, he and the others knew what to do. "So we're finally here? All right, Ice Make: Cannon!"

"Re-equip, Purgatory Armor!" Erza called, destroying the lacrima with a couple of slashes.

"Let's go Taurus!"

"Gladly!" The spirit smashed the lacrima with his axe. Happy cheered, and Lucy smiled, sharing a highfive with Gemini, who had come to help them.

"Rockiron Fist!"

Jura's large rock golem crushed the lacrima easily.

"Wendy..." Carla began.

"I know. I'm ready." Wendy had been thinking hard about her next step and now she knew what to do. She would not fail now.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

The girls cheered when the fierce breath attack suceeded in destroying its target.

"All right then..." Victor cast Accel Force on his spear and tossed it with all his power while Endymion cast Star Gladius on his end, successfully taking care of their target.

* * *

"You guys!" Happy called out when he saw the others outside. They had all left quickly when they realized Nirvana was falling apart after they were done and were just meeting near the massive structure.

Erza smiled back "Good work, all of you."

"Yeah, we did it at last. Oracion Seis has been defeated." Jura said.

Wendy happily hugged Natsu "Thank you! Cait Shelter is safe!"

He grinned back "Did you have any doubts? We weren't going to settle for anything less!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy beamed.

"You know Jellal, I had a hard time believing it, but you turned out all right." Gray remarked.

Erza nodded "He certainly has. He kept true to his word and was a great help to the end."

"It's nothing so special...judging from what I heard, I still have a long way to go to repent for everything."

"Maybe but you're well on your way. The first step's always the hardest." Hope pointed out, smiling at the grateful look the young man gave him then.

"That's right, and I'll do everything I can to help you." Erza promised.

'I'm afraid it won't be so simple.' Endymion informed. 'I sense some people arriving. They seem to be from the magic council. I think there are...circumstances to Jellal's story but they won't listen to a thing we say so he's better off leaving.'

Lucy blanched "You have to go! They can't arrest you, especially now!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you can do more good on your own now. I couldn't bear it if..." Erza shook her head. "...please go."

Jellal seemed uncertain but he relented, seeing the truth in her words "...All right."

The Rune Knights arrived a little while later. Their captain, Lahar, stepped up to speak with the alliance. "So this is where you were." At the quizzical looks directed at him, he added. "We met your friends near that ship. Don't worry, they're being tended to as we speak. One of them mentioned a possibility of you heading to Cait Shelter."

"Oh, I wanted to take everyone there. We're all tired..." Wendy began.

"That will have to wait." The runes they had placed around the area flashed then. "We're here to arrest two criminals. Jellal Fernandes seems to have escaped us but we're also here for the Oracion Seis member Hoteye."

Wendy's eyes widened "Wait, that's...!"

"He helped us out! He's not a bad guy!" Happy added.

"I would beg to differ." Lahar argued. "His crimes cannot be pardoned just because of a single kind act..."

"But..."

"It's all right, Jura. Don't trouble yourselves over me." Hoteye assured. "I already expected this. I'm going to start over. Just one thing, Captain?"

Lahar raised an eye in response.

"It's about Victor." Aforementioned templar seemed surprised at this. "You shouldn't..."

"I know. He's innocent in all this, it's only thanks to him that Councilman Benjamin and his family are safe." Lahar responded, noting Hoteye's obvious relief at the news.

Victor bit his lip. He hadn't expected Hoteye to jump to his defense but there was something he could to help now.

"Erza, Hoteye did all this because he needed money to find his brother. You know Wally Buchanan?"

The redhead stared at him before turning to Hoteye. Her expression softened "Yeah, Wally's a good friend of mine. He's traveling with our other friends. Don't worry, he's happy and free now."

Hoteye started crying then, but the smile showed that they were tears of joy. "Thank you! That's what I wanted to know, thank you so much!"

"So he's Cubey's brother?" Gray muttered.

"I don't know about you but I can see a good resemblance." Natsu said thoughtfully.

"Same here." Lucy nodded.

They felt bad that Hoteye was taken but they all respected his decision and knew that he was really a good guy at heart. Hopefully, he could start over after his sentence was finished.

* * *

The alliance members met up a while later and headed to Cait Shelter where they were able to rest and recover from all their battles.

"Okay, what did we miss? With how Lucy and Gray keep looking at you all funny..." Natsu began.

"...Let's just say they found out the things you and Lisanna discovered after that accident." Hope replied.

It didn't take him long to figure out what that mean. It definitely explained the odd situation but...

"Wait, what? How?"

A voice spoke before Hope could answer "There you all are. I've been waiting."

Wendy smiled at the elderly man near Cait Shelter's entrance "Master Roubaul!"

The man smiled kindly at her before speaking. "I think it's time I come clean about a few things..."

* * *

_Whew, that's that. Now Chapter 26 is where I'm going to be coming clean myself. _

_Erza: Really now?_

_Yup, besides that story. There's also the deal with the sieve lacrima, I think people are going to want to hear that part. _

_Erza: Oh, that I can agree to. I'm definitely looking forward to it. _

_Fair warning though, you're definitely not going to like what you're going to hear. _

_Erza: I had a feeling, but it's all right. We'll be there for Hope and Endymion no matter what. This'll just make sure we know what we're dealing with._

_Glad to hear it! Now, late as it may be, Merry Christmas and more importantly, Happy new year everybody!_


	26. Chapter 26

_Hi!_

_Well this earlier than I intended, partly because I was excited to get it ready and partly because I'm likely going to get busy in the next few weeks and I'll never remember to finish this in good time. _

_Once again thanks to everyone who's reading this story. Here's to hoping you like the chapter.  
_

* * *

"Come clean?"

Roubaul nodded "I think I owe you an explanation now...I probably won't get another chance. You see, I was the one who told the other Guild masters about Oracion Seis. I intended to watch Nirvana until it can be destroyed so I realized something was off some time after that young lady passed by. She was one of the strangest guests I've ever seen."

Gray frowned "...Did that lady have white blond hair and dark blue eyes?"

The man blinked, not noticing Hope's expression darken at the question. "Why, yes. How did you know?"

"She left a clue behind. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Right. Well, this may be hard to believe but it's the truth...and the reason I know all about Nirvana."

Sherry gave him a curious look "Wasn't it because you were descendants of the Nirvit? We already know about that."

"...We're not descendants of the Nirvit, we're the true Nirvit themselves."

* * *

"Whoa, what?"

"What're you talking about?" Happy demanded.

"That can't be!" Lyon added.

Roubaul heaved a sigh "The truth is, the one behind creating Nirvana...was none other than myself. It was the symbol of peace for our nation for years. I was so sure it would be fine to use it but I realized too late that it takes in and distributes the evil it gets from people. The result...was terrible. My people slaughtered each other and I'm the only survivor."

No one knew how to react to this. Endymion, who had noticed something strange about Roubaul and the other Cait Shelter mages, knew that the man was telling the truth. He realized that and worried for Wendy and Carla. This would hurt them terribly...

"But...then, if this is true...you're a..." Eve struggled to form the words, even when everyone knew what he meant.

"Yes, I am in fact, an old ghost." Roubaul informed.

Wendy and Carla stared, feeling as horrified as each other.

"W-what?!"

"That can't be!"

"I'm afraid it is so." Roubaul gave them a sad smile. "I intended to watch Nirvana until someone destroyed it, which thanks to you all brave mages has finally become reality. I never planned to do anything else. Only...seven years ago, a boy named Jellal came with our little Wendy. He told me he was traveling with her but had to leave and he didn't want to leave her alone. When Jellal told me about his promise to take her to a guild, I decided to create an illusionary family."

"You have the power to create an entire guild...?" Ichiya inquired.

"Incredible..." Jura trailed off.

"I'm afraid, that I'm at the end now." Roubaul's words were followed by some of the members of Cait Shelter disappearing.

"No!" Wendy ran over, tears flowing from her eyes as she watched more of them vanish. "No way..."

Carla fell to her knees "This isn't happening..."

Roubaul smiled at them "My dears, what do you need an illusionary family for? You have a real one right there." He looked at the others. "Please take care of them."

With those parting words, he was the last to fade away and move on. The rest of the alliance watched as the girls cried, uncertain of what to do.

Wendy felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Hope kneeling behind her. She bit her lip and buried her face in his chest, barely registering his arms wrapping around her as she sobbed.

Hope stroked the young dragon slayer's hair, wishing he knew how to console her. For now, he decided to let Wendy calm down so he stayed silent, allowing her to release her feelings and calm down. So he only spoke when silence settled in.

"...We're going back home. Come with us to Fairy tail, you two."

* * *

"I still don't like you, you know." Sherry informed.

Lucy gave her a look that said she wasn't impressed. "Same here. But...with all this, I guess you're all right."

The woman turned her back on her "...I suppose...you're not so bad yourself."

"...Carla, do you think this means they're friends now?" Happy wanted to know.

"I have absolutely no idea." She admitted. This was without a doubt one of the strangest exchanges she had seen.

Ren looked at Victor "Come to think of it, what are you going to do now that you're a free man?"

"Ah, loads of things. But...for starters, I gotta say Fairy tail's looking more and more interesting. Any chance you can get me in?"

Gray smirked "I think we can swing you by."

Lyon turned to him "Well, it seems you've barely gotten better, since our last meeting."

"Funny, I seem to recall you losing to me. So that should be my line."

"Please, that was a fluke. Clearly, I've gotten a lot better since then. Do I need to remind you who the senior pupil was, little junior?"

"That's kind of hard to forget with the head of white hair. Nice look, Pops!"

"Why you..."

The listeners fought to hold their amusement in, just somewhat succeeding.

Natsu watched Ren and Eve flirt with Erza and Sherry "I bet those guys will get along great with Loke."

"Sadly, you're right. It'll be the meeting of Fiore's biggest playboys..." Lucy muttered, having just evaded some of that treatment.

"It was amazing watching you in action, Erza-san." Hibiki praised. "Of course, seeing you up close just showed me that you're much more beautiful than what I heard. A most lovely rose blooming on the field of battle...!"

Erza's eye twitched. It wasn't that she didn't think he hadn't done well, the flirting just really annoyed her. She was thankful Ichiya was getting Christina started now.

"...You just can't help yourself, can you?..."

"It was nice working with you again, Jura-san." Hope smiled. "Especially after last time..."

"The same time to you, Hope-dono." The wizard saint returned. "I quite agree that the clients last time caused a fiasco."

"Yeah, no kidding..." Hope blinked when Jura placed a hand on his head.

"...I had no idea how much rough times you went through to get this far. But as long as you keep demonstrating the strength you have shown us, you will be all right."

Hope didn't know what to say, because he realized exactly what Jura meant by this. Moments later, he smiled and answered "Thank you."

Wendy came to join them, looking happy. "I really want to see Hope-san and Endymion-san's guild. It sounds like a great place!"

'Oh, it is. I dare say you'll do very well there.' Endymion assured.

"Yeah, I bet they'll be glad to have you." Natsu added with a nod from Hope, making the girl beam at them.

"I have to say, I thought the stories about the White Paladin were overrated but now..." Eve trailed off.

"I know, it's a shame Hope's with Fairy tail." Hibiki nodded. "He would've done so well in Blue Pegasus."

"In Lamia Scale too, actually." Lyon said, putting a hand on his chin in thought. "After all, even with out that, he's proven to be quite capable and mature despite his young age."

Hibiki sighed "Exactly. Well, if you're interested..."

"No!" Three voices snapped at him and he found himself the target of Natsu, Gray and Erza's glares.

"Whoa, calm down! I was going to say the chance is open. That's all!" He assured, waving his hands quickly.

Hope gave him an apologetic look "I'm right where I want to be. But thanks, I'm flattered, Hibiki-san and Lyon-san."

"Just telling it how it is." The first responded.

"Way to overreact, you three. What did you think he was going to say?" Lucy asked.

"Oi!" Ren called from Christina "Come on, it's time to go!"

* * *

Hope stopped walking at the sound of footsteps and saw Natsu running along the boat happily. Knowing his friend's usual state he couldn't help but smile at the sight. He could understand Natsu's happiness though. Once he realized that Wendy's Troia spell took care of his motion sickness, he decided to make the most of it.

"Hope."

He blinked and turned his head, seeing Erza walk over followed by Carla and Gray. "I think it's safe to say that we'd all appreciate some explanation about that lacrima."

"...I thought you'd say that." Truth be told, he was dreading this. Hope was perfectly aware that they would have plenty of questions about that lacrima. While he would prefer just not to breach that subject again, Endymion had pointed out that they were all worried about him and that since he had wanted at some point to tell them, this would be a good chance to do so.

With mental reassurance from his friend, Hope let out a sigh. "All right..."

Gray was about to stop him leaving, but then he realized that their friend was just going to one of the rooms on the ship. So he was basically telling them to go there.

"While I can see why you'd be concerned, he clearly doesn't want to talk about it." Carla pointed out.

"We know. He's never really talked about his past with any of us before." Gray responded. "And normally, that's fine, seeing as we weren't exactly open about our own..."

Erza took over "But, we can see it's affecting him badly. Have you actually seen him get much rest ever since the battle was over?"

Carla blinked, suddenly realizing their point. If anything the boy seemed more tired than anything lately. She could tell he had gotten some rest when they went to Cait Shelter, but she was fairly sure she'd seen him talking to Endymion really early. "So you think talking about it could help him."

"Maybe...I'm afraid that's all we can do at this point." Listen to what was troubling their friend so they could think of some way to help.

* * *

With that, a while later, the group had gotten settled in one of the ship's cabins and briefed Natsu and Happy about the situation...

"Come to think of it, Lucy-san, I know your master took in orphaned kids and let them in Fairy tail but why did he adopt Hope-san?" Wendy asked curiously.

The celestial mage seemed surprised by the question, but it was a good one. Why did Makarov adopt Hope out of all the kids that joined them? "I don't know, actually..."

"Meh, it's no biggie. I asked him once and he said he just felt like it." Gray said with a shrug.

"Besides, with the way some of us were before I doubt that idea would have gone well." Erza added.

"Yeah but..." Hope trailed off. "...he said he wanted to. He had a good feeling that it'll help get me to belong...so I'd have a home again."

Now that really confused them, they knew Hope had been abandoned but that...

Before anybody could ask, Natsu spoke "He means as far as we know, Hope and Endymion only had each other before they joined the guild."

"...I've never talked about this to anyone besides Endymion." He admitted. "So I'm not sure how to go about it."

Happy looked confused "Wait, then how does Natsu..."

"That was an accident." The teen interjected. "...Mostly because of Gildarts but I'll tell you more later."

"Okay..."

"We know it's hard, Hope but we're really worried about you two." Lucy sat next to him.

Endymion's voice was bitter when he responded 'Me? I'm hardly the one you need to worry about when I'm a big part of what caused this. Hope's the one who suffered terribly during those awful times.'

"Don't say that." Hope frowned. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this subject came up. He would never blame Endymion, who had been his best friend, guardian and the closest thing he had to family for so long. "It wasn't your fault. In fact, if it wasn't for you I never would've made it this far."

He blinked when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at Lucy.

"Whatever it is, we're not going to think any less of you. Just keep that in mind."

He bit his lip but nodded.

"We'll ask and you answer. Agreed?" Carla received a nod.

"Okay...when did that attack happen?" Happy tried.

"I think it's been almost 9 years now. That was my old home you saw..."

"So, that's how..." Victor's eyes traveled to Hope's left arm.

The boy gripped it, not looking at him. He hadn't realized Victor had seen that...

Gray, who happened to see what the older templar was talking about before and so knew what was wrong "Oh hey, we can see if Wendy's magic works on that."

The girl looked confused "My...? Hope-san, were you injured?"

"Not...exactly."

"Then what are they talking about?"

Hope knew that they weren't about to drop that subject and he realized that Endymion agreed with Gray so he supposed it might be worth a shot. With a sigh, he pulled his left sleeve up, revealing that the upper part of his arm had a bunch of scars.

"H-how..."

To think this wasn't even the full extent of the damage and they were so shocked. Hope shook that thought away and looked at Wendy "Would your magic work? Nothing I've tried made a difference."

Wendy recovered from the surprise and cast a healing spell, her eyes widened when it made no difference. "Why?"

Hope pushed the sleeve back "Who knows. I've been told they're caused by evil magic so I've been using my light magic to keep them hidden."

"I'm sorry, I really wanted to help..." Wendy frowned.

He shook his head, giving her a grateful look. "Don't worry. That's good enough."

"Evil..." Erza's eyes widened as a thought hit her. "Were the attackers in the lacrima...?"

"Demon Fang, yeah." Hope replied. "The whole thing was so sudden that no one knew what to do at first. It was pretty chaotic back at the capital then."

Victor raised an eye at the name "Isn't that the dark guild that planned a hostile takeover to make their guild master Fiore's king?"

"Yeah, they're also the reason Hope and Endymion ended up like this." Happy nodded.

'Apparently, my soul was sealed in an ancient tablet. They planned to break the seal and place in the body of a mage to turn me into a weapon.' The phoenix explained. 'Almost all their attempts failed though.'

"That's how Roy's story started..." Happy paused.

Gray raised an eye "Then, who were those kids we saw?"

'Hope and his best friends.' Endymion replied, confirming some of their suspicions. 'As I'm sure you could tell...the attack hit the room where they were stayed. Somehow, Hope was the only who survived.'

Everyone who didn't know this stared at Hope in shock, not that he really noticed. For he was suddenly remembering how awful it felt when he woke up. He hadn't been able to move much because of his injuries but seeing his friends, Amy and Julian, and all those people dead was terrifying.

If he had looked at his friends, he would've seen the shocked and then upset looks they gave him. Most of them had seen that place so they could imagine how awful of an experience that really was.

Natsu was about to ask something when he heard Hope mutter "Right, that's when she found me..."

"About that, who is that woman? You looked like you saw a ghost when her image showed up." Carla remarked.

'...Seeing as we both thought her dead until that point. I'd say it's legitimate reason.' Endymion said darkly.

She blinked "As in you thought Demon Fang killed her?"

Hope nodded "After what they did, my memories were so messed up that I never realized it. Even with how well I remembered those awful times...there was one part I completely forgot until I saw the lacrima. That woman's name is Oriana Dale. She's the one who taught me memoria magic."

Everyone stared at him, not expecting that in the least. Natsu was the one who broke the silence "That's actually the one part I don't get. How did they catch you? Didn't she help you?"

'It's more like she was helping herself.' Endymion spat, the venomous tone startling them.

Hope began. "When I first woke up...I found her carrying me out. I really thought it would be okay then. I don't know the full story but she never planned to help anyone, she made some deal with Demon Fang and it involves handing me over to them."

"What?!"

* * *

Happy's shoulders sagged as he mumbled "That's awful..."

Even if he avoided elaborating, it was clear how much Hope trusted Oriana. The fact that took advantage of that strong feeling just sickened them. It was cruel.

'Even with all their efforts and the people they tried it on, those fools couldn't handle my power. Hope was only able to bear it after a while...and a lot of tests from them went down to ensure that it worked.' Endymion continued. 'Their ship was almost destroyed and...while I hardly remember this part, I do recall flying into a forest. According to Igneel, he found us a while after that.'

Gray looked from Hope to Natsu "Damn...out of all the ways for you to meet."

His rival snorted "Tell me something I don't know."

"So Natsu's father helped you?" Carla asked.

"Yeah, you can imagine my surprise when I figured out what happened. But they were really nice," Hope said with a bit of a smile at his childhood friend.

Natsu waved it off, though they did notice the embarrassment on his face "Ah, you're taking it too far..."

"So that's how all the lessons you mentioned started..." Lucy trailed off.

Wendy looked confused "Lessons?"

"Apparently, this guy used to have trouble with some of his lessons...though if you ask me it's just because he was hard headed. Hope turned out to be a better teacher than Igneel when it came to manners and reading and that sort of thing. He knew it more than plenty of kids his age at that point so he decided to help out. Natsu picked it up pretty well, that's how they started getting along."

"I do not envy you one bit, Hope. What incredible patience that must take." Carla said dryly.

Natsu scowled while a number of the listeners laughed "Oi, what's that supposed to mean!?"

The blue haired girl smiled "Hope-san and Natsu-san must be really close."

"We were surprised at first but they are." Erza said with an amused glance at the two.

"But then you had to be almost six or something, right?" Victor tilted his head a bit, looking impressed. Clearly Hope was smarter than he gave him credit for. "So you got to know each other at that time, Endymion?"

'Yes, that's when I truly awakened up. It didn't take long for me to realize the situation and I wanted nothing more than to reverse but there was nothing I could do.' He said bitterly. 'Even when he was scared, Hope accepted me and offered to become my friend. That means so much more than I could ever express and I'm eternally grateful for it.'

"I can imagine." Victor said as they smiled at the younger templar, feeling and understanding the strong bond between him and Endymion.

"You're making too big of a deal out of it." Hope said sheepishly.

"No, he's isn't. That was sweet of you. No wonder you two are such good friends." Lucy remarked.

Erza nodded "Same here though we've always known that you have a big heart."

"I have to admit, I'm confused." Victor continued. "I get that you came to Fiore because your family abandoned you in Aetheria but I don't see why you didn't go back to your old home."

Natsu scowled, the words reminding him of the truth. "...There was no choice. Igneel did take him back. That's when things went bad again."

"Eh? Why?" Happy asked.

Hope steeled himself before he spoke "Well...after what happened, they thought I was dead. It looked like everything was getting better when I made it. When I found...them I saw some remnants of Demon Fang try to attack and I stopped them. I ended up using Endymion's power to help. Then...I tried to explain to them...I really did, but they all just freaked out and started calling me a monster."

"You're kidding me..."

"No way..."

But it only got worse 'They seemed so sure that Hope was just another weapon sent by Demon Fang that they wouldn't listen to a thing he said.' Endymion took over when he sensed how hard this was for his old friend. 'They seemed certain that we had already attacked. Maybe it was because the terror they caused was just that high or it was something they've done after Hope was taken. We'll never know. As I recall, they were demanding why Hope survived when others didn't and wishing it was the other way around. They said more awful things I have no intention of mentioning. At that point, the only thing I could do was make sure Hope would leave before they killed him.'

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Gray exclaimed, outraged. Aside from the fact that he had saved those people, Hope was one of the most harmless people he knew. He would never hurt innocents. "You're telling me even his caretakers didn't do anything to stop them?"

'That's exactly what I'm saying.'

It was then that everyone truly understood the meaning of Hope's words earlier. Indeed, with all this behind him, it was no surprise that he hardly understood what a family was like until he came to befriend Endymion and joined Fairy tail. The listeners felt nothing but shock and outrage on the boy's behalf. It was an awful story.

Happy and Wendy were in tears at this point and Lucy wasn't far behind. Was it really any wonder, the cat thought, that Hope wouldn't tell them anything about himself? He must have wanted to forget all about this but he couldn't at the same time. Hope was nice and kind, one of the most gentle hearted people he ever met, this was so unfair.

Wendy was more or less thinking the same thing. It hurt that her friend (who was becoming more of a brother figure) went through all this. He was so selfless, caring for others' even after what he went through. Even now, she thought as they hugged the boy, he was staying strong even though this must be so awful for him. It amazed her that he had turned out the way he did and she wished she could help him feel better somehow.

"Oh, come on you two, stop that!" Carla said. She had to admit, she didn't like Hope at first but she learned to...especially when she saw how much getting to know him helped Wendy. She knew he and Endymion were loyal friends. "Who do you think wants to cry the most now?"

They stiffened as they realized it too, stepping back and apologizing. Hope smiled a bit and shook his head "It's all right...I thought you'd be mad at me, actually. So thank you."

"Mad at you? We're mad _for _you!" Erza wouldn't let him think otherwise for a second. "You should've been able to rely on those people and they should know better. But this...you even had to fake your own death to get away from your past. It's sick!"

Wendy and Carla looked alarmed at this but it was Victor who inquired about it, seeming just as shocked. The three listened to Endymion's explaining to them privately, feeling nothing but anger and sadness on the kind boy's behalf.

"Yeah, it is." Lucy hugged Hope. "It's cruel but you've been so strong. There's no way anyone would take all this and turn out like you did. Nothing excuses what they did. I get why it was hard for you to talk about, you did the right thing, trust me."

"Yup. I always thought you're one of the bravest people I know." Natsu grinned.

Happy nodded. "Endymion's a real tough cookie for sure. You guys got through so much on your way, and that's great!"

If anything, all this story did was make them respect their friends that much more. It was a wonder that Hope turned out this way and the templar was the only reason Endymion had been able to keep his faith in humans. They supported each other through everything and were now the closest of friends.

Hope smiled at them. He was relieved more than he could ever express that they felt this way. It meant so much to him that they understood and were completely supportive of him. Endymion hadn't quite liked the idea, because he could tell how hard it was on Hope to relive all this but it did seem to help. He was also very grateful that their friends took things this way.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Man..." Gray glanced at the sleeping Hope, who currently lay against the wall with his head on Erza's shoulder. With all his concern and exhaustion over this, telling the story seemed to help like they intended. It was about time to catch up on that rest he missed. The knight mage smiled gently and settled him on the bed they were both sitting on. "...who would've thought Hope had such a messed up past?"

"Not me..." Happy piped up. "...but it kind of clears things up. Remember, Hope didn't smile much and he barely talked to any of us when he joined up. Even that took a while."

Natsu confirmed this "Can you really blame him though? Just look at this mess."

"Nope, I'm just wondering how the hell he turned out this way." Gray admitted, feeling his respect for the young templar rise.

'I asked myself that a lot.' Endymion admitted. 'But now I think it's just the way Hope is. He doesn't like leaving people in trouble, from his own experiences. But even then, he turned all those sad memories into a drive to get strong and he moved forward. He may not see how great that is but now he lives every day to the best of his ability. I find that great, and I'm incredibly proud of the person Hope is now.'

Victor smiled "And you've got every right to be. He's really something else."

"Yeah, I doubt just anybody could take all this and turn out so...good." Lucy leaned back. The phoenix had informed them that after some time where he had settled in, some people had taken to picking on Hope, calling him an outsider and such. It was through meeting his friends (which thankfully happened quickly) that he learned not to let it to get to him.

"One thing I don't get...it's almost like you were suspecting the part about Oriana, Endymion-san." Wendy noted shrewdly. "Did Hope-san tell you before he lost his memory?"

'Not...exactly.' He admitted. He had feared that but for Hope's sake, Endymion wished he was wrong. That was the only reason he kept quiet about it. 'I needed some time to convince him to talk about all that.. It's just...some of the things he said before told me that something was off.'

In truth, there was also Hope's behavior after the fighting festival. He had noticed that his friend was close to remembering something but at the same time, it was like he didn't want to. The phoenix couldn't make sense of it then but he understood that a part of Hope was afraid of his memory's coming back. But it was understandable with what we've seen. He now knew it was also because Oriana's betrayal just left him terribly hurt. But it was the talk with Laxus that really cemented his suspicion about that part.

_Laxus paused and looked back, making sure to focus his thoughts on Endymion so the phoenix would get the message and keep the telepathy between them. Something just seemed so off here. 'Oi, old bird, besides the obvious reason, exactly what made him think of that day now?'_

_'I can think of a couple of reasons...one being you.' Endymion admitted. 'Despite what you might think, Hope really does consider you family. I think...all this just brought back a memory. It's not clear but we can tell it's bad and it's scaring Hope. Like it was something he wanted to avoid mentioning.'_

_'What do you mean?'_

_'This happened a little while after we started traveling. I thought I'd try to help him...deal with his feelings at least. It was working for a start but it went bad when he remembered how Demon Fang came to catch him. He wasn't...very clear on that part but he did mention something about how he still couldn't believe it...believe that he was betrayed again. But he never told me what that meant. That's when we found out he lost a bunch of his memories.'_

_Now this was really starting to make sense. It was clear how much damage the battle of Fairy tail had caused, Laxus would be the first to agree but he really understood why Hope acted that way in the end. That memory was returning and Hope clearly didn't want it to, even if he didn't fully realize it. _

_'Wait, so then...Demon Fang didn't catch him...'_

_'Exactly, someone gave Hope to them that same day.'_

* * *

"I can't wait till we get home. A lot happened now..." Happy trailed off.

"Well, we won't have to wait long now. I'd say you need to get ready for the celebration that I'm sure is going to take place after we get back." Erza remarked. The guild was almost certainly going to have a party when they see their three new members.

"Aye! It's going to be great!"

* * *

_Well, that's that._

_Sooo, was it any good? Did I do a decent job of explaining things? I've been worrying about this chapter for a while. It's just that I can't think of anything better...If there's anything you want to ask or anything I missed, let me know._

_Please Read and Review!_


	27. Chapter 27

_Well, after mid terms and a lot of hassle, I finally got to finish this. So here's the newest chapter of Endymion. Hope you like it!_

* * *

As expected, once the guild realized that they had three new members, they immediately proceeded to celebrate. Fairy tail style, which of course means that they had a huge party.

"I thought you were exaggerating, Lucy, but this place sure is rowdy." Victor commented, looking amused.

"Yeah," she gave an exasperated sigh as she noticed the fight not too far from them. "You get used to it...at least that's what I've been told. Besides, you should see them when they really get going."

Victor raised an eye "Yeah? I wonder..." His eyes widened when he saw a fireball heading his way and quickly reduced it with Zero Ray. "...Good grief, Natsu, watch where you throw that thing!"

"Sorry!" The dragon slayer called before charging back in the fight.

Mira smiled when she saw someone come in "By the way...we've had another new member join up while you were gone."

"Really?"

"Yup..." She noticed Lucy and Erza smiling when they saw who the new arrival was.

"What?" Happy blinked and followed their line of sight in time to see the person covering Hope's eyes with their hands before a grin settled on his face.

"Guess who?" The new arrival asked cheerfully.

Moments later, Hope smiled and conjured a sphere of light which changed into a star before disappearing.

A giggle followed that action "That works!"

Feeling the hands removed, Hope turned around to see Rebecca beaming at them.

"Rebecca! When did you join up?"

"Just a little while ago. One thing lead to another and here I am, I figured I'd surprise you guys." She explained.

"Quite a good surprise," Erza smiled, Hope nodded to this and she continued. "So you seem to be getting on well."

"Oh yeah, it's a great place! The chaos does take getting used to, I'll admit."

Happy snickered "Don't worry, you'll get there."

* * *

Makarov had noticed that Gray had been one of the few males to stay out of the fight earlier. At first he thought it was because he was with Erza but the man wasn't at all surprised to learn of the real reason from the two.

"So he told you."

"Yeah," Gray began. "I remember you saying once that Hope had to grow up too fast and boy do I see why. The whole thing's just wrong on so many levels."

"You can say that again."

Erza's eyes widened "Right, there's a part you wouldn't know..."

Needless to say, the guild master was just as furious as they were when they told him about Oriana.

"You're kidding me...and that woman's been free all this time?"

"It sure looks that way." Gray responded. The fact that Oriana had been living well all this time while Hope had barely been able to put those days behind him just reminded them once again of the unfairness of the situation. "At least, according to that old man, she was traveling just a few months ago."

Erza looked around, noticing Hope talking to Wendy and Rebecca. "I thought it was strange that he kept to himself for so long but now I really see why. He's brave, even if he doesn't realize it."

"Yeah, that's another thing we agree on." Makarov said. "Thanks to those awful times, Hope can barely see his own worth. And yet he's the reason Endymion opened up and decided to give people a chance. If it had been anyone else, I'd hate to think how things would have turned out..."

"Lucky it turned out for the best." Gray commented before going to join them.

"Gray-sama!"

He almost jumped before turning to see Juvia smiling at him, having just barely dodged her attempt at a hug. "Jeez, If you're trying to give me a heart attack then mission accomplished."

"Oh! Juvia's sorry, Juvia wanted to hear about your job."

"That's it? Come on then, they can help explain."

* * *

Cancer stepped back and gave an approving nod after a moment "It's done, ebi."

"Yeah?" Lucy poked her head in and smiled when she saw her spirit's work. "Nice job, Cancer!"

Natsu nodded "I wondered but you are crazy good when it comes to hair..."

"I already told you that. Was it so hard to believe me?" Lucy asked with a raised eye.

"Oh, I believed you. Right until I saw Happy's afro."

The blond gave a sheepish look at that. She did think that was uncalled for...

"I still think he was overreacting, ebi." Cancer sighed.

"You're not supposed to cut people's hair without asking them. Besides, it looked stupid." Natsu pointed out while Lucy handed Hope a mirror to let him take a look.

They were in Lucy's living room. A while ago, Cancer have given her hair a trim and decided to try an afro for Happy, which ended in the cat bursting in tears and Natsu bursting out laughing. Hope ended the problem with his memoria magic, thankfully managing to restore Happy's fur to the way it was before. Cancer had taken a close look at the boy after that and declared that he had a great style in mind for him. Hope, after some reassurance from Lucy, decided to give him a chance.

Hope's hair was combed down now and reached over three quarters of his neck. It was a little messy, somewhat spiked to the left with two blond bangs framing his face.

"Thanks Cancer-san."

"No problem, ebi. I haven't had the chance to work with hair like yours in a while, it turned out better than I thought."

'If you mean the color, it wasn't really Hope's choice.' Endymion informed.

"Really?" Cancer tilted his head.

"It happened a while back." Hope explained. "Endymion says it's because our magic was fused well. Natsu said I looked different when we first met but I'm not even sure what that was like..."

"You're not?" His childhood friend blinked. "Oh yeah, then again you couldn't even remember us at first...so we're still up for dinner later, right?"

"Yeah, no reason why we shouldn't be." Lucy replied. It was becoming an occasion of sorts for Team Natsu to have some sort of outing together every once in a while. This time it was her turn to make dinner. "I'm just going to invite Wendy, Carla and Rebecca."

"That's cool."

"It makes things easier too. I bet Happy would find a way to get Carla in somehow..." The blue cat was love struck, plain and simple.

* * *

"All right, that's it. From now on, I'm staying at least three feet away from Cancer." Happy grumbled as he pulled a chair up the table.

Gray snickered at the image of the blue cat with an afro "Well, can't say I blame you. But you did get fixed up so everything's cool."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"And you just laughed at Happy's misery, why am I not surprised?" Erza sighed, giving Natsu an exasperated look.

"Hey, you would've done it too. That was totally ridiculous!"

"Well, completely unnecessary afros aside, he did a good job with you." Rebecca said, patting the annoyed Happy on the head before glancing at Hope.

Erza nodded "It suits you. If Cancer considered pranking you like he did with Happy..."

"I don't think he considers it a prank but Loke would've kicked his butt before any of us could have done something." Lucy interjected, placing a jug on the table before sitting down.

"True...which reminds me, Hope, what is this I hear about you bringing up visiting Fairy Hills?"

The boy gave Erza a quizzical look as he tried to remember when he brought something like that up.

It was Endymion who replied 'He didn't mean that. It was just something about making sure Wendy and Carla were settled in. We didn't forget the rules, Erza.'

She nodded "Good."

Everyone knew that as the dorm's mother, Erza felt responsible to hold up rules at Fairy Hills. The one she was most strict about was that no boys were allowed at all.

Gray raised an eye "Yeah, I'm pretty sure no guy in his right mind is going to consider going to Fairy Hills after what you all did to Macao and Wakaba."

Hope blinked "Why would they even...?"

"They didn't know she was the dorm's mother. I guess they thought they could get away with it. The girls got mad and it all went to hell." He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure the point sunk in for everyone."

Lucy had a good idea what that meant so she gave the curious Wendy a look "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"I think Loke might have dared them or something..." Natsu remarked, suddenly recalling the spirit's incredibly smug look when Levy told them what happened the next day.

"I thought the stories about Fairy tail's chaotic nature might have been exaggerated until I settled down. It's full of surprises." Rebecca commented.

"You don't know the half of it! You know, one time Cana, Gray and Loke were at the bar with Erza..."

"Happy!" The ice mage interjected. He had a pretty good idea where this was going. "I don't know how the hell you found out about that day but don't you dare tell them!"

Naturally, this reaction attracted curiosity from his friends.

"At the bar with me?" Erza tilted her head a little in thought. "Hm, that doesn't ring a bell...when was that Happy?"

"Beats me. Cana just said that was when they found out how you're way more scary when you're drunk."

"All right, I want to know. What's the story?"

'You might as well give it a rest,' Endymion remarked.

Natsu nodded, drinking some juice before speaking. "Erza's not going to drop it."

"Ugh, yeah and Happy's not much better." Gray sighed. "Fine, whatever. Now that I think about it, seeing what happened in the end, Cana might've been pulling my leg..."

"Okay, what happened?" Lucy prompted. Next to her, Wendy and Hope looked between him and Happy, just as curious.

Happy began explaining "Well, it started when Loke brought up his latest girl friend..."

* * *

Makarov came home later than he expected and after a moment of thought, decided to look for Hope. He found the boy minutes later in the balcony watching the stars.

"Nice night for it, huh?" Indeed, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the moon glowed. It was a perfect time for stargazing.

Hope smiled when Makarov joined him "Yeah."

The two sat in silence for a little while. Makarov proceeded to break it "So you've told them everything."

Hope nodded "...This entire time I've avoided those memories, especially around you all...when I really had no reason to worry."

"That's just what we were trying to tell you." By we, the guild master meant himself, Gildarts, Natsu and Lisanna. "But you had your reasons. I can imagine it wasn't easy but you truly opened up. See, you're a lot stronger than you think. Look how good you turned out even with all that's happened. I'm proud of you."

Hope looked surprised for a moment but his smile returned as he wrapped his arms around his grandfather "I don't know about any strength...but I've only come this far with everyone's help. So thank you."

"Heh, no problem, kiddo." The guild master patted his head. "I knew you belonged with us. It's convincing you that was the problem."

A laugh followed this "True enough. I'm really glad you stuck with me, even more that I could stay...and get to know everyone. After all this time, I'm glad to find family far better than I could have imagine."

Makarov smiled "Glad to have you too and don't you forget it."

* * *

"So why do you want me to come here so badly?"

"Oh, Juvia is friends with the shop owner and naturally Juvia told her about Gray-sama. So she wants to meet you."

"I still don't see why you're so happy. For the record, if Gramps put you up to this, you should know that none of his attempts to deal with my stripping worked."

Juvia gave Gray a curious look but decided to question this later "It isn't anything like that. Juvia thinks Gray-sama will understand when he meets her."

"All right..."

* * *

"This place is nice." Rebecca smiled as she took in the articles of clothing around them. The store was called White Hart and Erza had insisted on taking her here when she heard that the younger girl was going shopping.

"I know, Happy told me about this place so I came in the opening day. The owner's so sweet, and she has wonderful taste."

"No kidding...Juvia, Gray!" The girl exclaimed, seeing them enter. "What're you doing here?"

"For some reason the shop owner wants to meet me." The ice mage replied, shrugging.

Erza gave him an unimpressed look "Are you sure this isn't an _intervention_?"

He was about to say that it wasn't, because they know how pointless it would be. But then Gray noticed how she stressed the word and instinctively looked down.

"Oh, crap!"

He had, as he suspected, stripped once again.

"So Happy wasn't exaggerating about the stripping, huh?" Rebecca mused.

Erza sighed "Afraid not. Are you sure you don't want us looking for anything for...that?"

Gray quickly put his clothes "Gramps already tried, remember? Nothing worked, it's only because of my magic..."

"Yeah, well..."

Elena poked her head out the corner "Is there some sort of problem?"

Juvia perked up "Elena-san!"

The woman's face lit up a second later "Oh, it was you!"

Gray gave her a quizzical look but recognition took over his expression a moment later. A wide grin settled on his face "No way!"

Erza and Rebecca were curious when the woman hugged him without a second thought. The first especially since she wondered why Juvia took this so well.

"All right, what's going on?"

Juvia beamed "Juvia wanted to this to be a surprise. Elena-san is Gray-sama's aunt!"

* * *

"Well, I told Mika you'd take after Silver and I was right." Elena grinned as they settled down after she had Ravi had put up the closed sign for the shop. She was overjoyed, having tried to look for her sister and family after Deliora's attack but she found no trace of any of them. "So I've been hearing a lot about you..."

"If that came from the guys, there's a huge chance of it being wrong." Gray informed.

"Really? I suppose it would fit..." The tailor placed a finger on her chin "...Actually, plenty of it came from Juvia-chan. Quite a cute girl friend you have there, Gray."

Juvia's face reddened at this while Gray choked "Now that's definitely wrong!"

Erza smirked a little "I can see why you'd think so but they're really not together. Apparently, your nephew needs to loosen up and get a clue first."

"Oi! I'm right here!"

The redhead just shrugged "That's what Cana said. I'm inclined to think she's right."

Elena giggled "Just like his mother."

Gray scowled at them, suddenly he remembered something "So, what's Drake up to anyway?"

"He's visiting his father. I think they'll be back tonight."

Ravi came then, looking excited "Hey, hey, Gray, how'd you learn magic? Can I do it too?"

"Well, I think you could." He shrugged. "As for the how, it's thanks to my teacher..."

* * *

Carla looked around the guild hall with an exasperated look. Their new guild mates were so energetic and rowdy, she found it hard to believe that this was the norm for Fairy tail.

"Before you even ask, no." She said upon noticing Happy approaching her with a fish.

"Aww..."

"I wish you'd try to get along, Carla." Wendy sighed. "From what I hear, it's rare of him to give anyone fish."

"Don't I feel special?" She drawled sarcastically.

Happy flew over to the bar, attracting Mira's attention. "So no luck again?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well don't give up, it'll work out eventually!" It hadn't taken Mira long to realize Happy's feelings for Carla. She thought it was adorable. The blue cat tended to cause trouble like Natsu but around Carla he was a real gentleman.

"Whoa..." Cana blinked when she saw Hope, taking in his appearance. He now a purple and white shirt with blue lining, blue pants and white shoes that had purple, black and blue lines going vertically. That, along with the new hair cut, really made him look different.

"Now there's a change, huh?" Levy mused. "Lu-chan says Cancer did the hair."

"Oh yeah?" Cana looked interested. "I'm hitting you up next time for a hair cut then. Your spirit's good."

"No problem." Lucy responded. "Cancer likes what he does."

"I think you might have had some influence on him, Levy. The kid sure reads a lot." Cana said, noting the templar sitting with a book in hand.

"Nothing wrong with that." The solid script mage smiled. It was actually more along the lines of him enjoying certain books. "Besides, he's had that book for a while. The Raijinshuu gave it to him after their last job. It has stories about the Lyrian Altair. You know that's going to catch Hope's interest."

Cana nodded "Good point..."

Lucy gave them a curious look "Yeah?"

"Yup, the guy's his idol. He said part of the reason he was inspired to be the White Paladin was reading about him." Levy informed.

"Huh, I had no idea..."

Coincidentally, Endymion had just finished telling Wendy and Carla the same thing. They were joined by Natsu, who came in time to hear Wendy remark

"...I only heard a little about him but the Altair is just about the most famous templar in living memory, right? That's what Master Roubaul said."

"Yeah, I think Victor-san might know more though. I haven't been in Aetheria in so long..." Hope trailed off. "I'm not sure if the stories are all real but they were good help. Back then, I just thought, I want to be like the Altair and...well, it's far out. I'm not really sure how it'll work out at all but I'm still at it."

This wasn't anything new to Natsu. It was just that he was less than fond of anything relating to Aetheria. He just learned to respect the Altair a little after hearing about him from his childhood friend. But that hasn't really changed his opinion on one part. "You know I still think you're making a big deal out of it, I don't see why."

"Well, let's think, it might have something to do with how his idol founded the country after uniting his people and even protected them for years." Carla pointed out. "Not to mention all his contributions to magic and discoveries from his travels."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just saying there's no reason Hope can't be like him."

"Fair enough."

Hope just smiled "Thanks."

Carla didn't notice Happy standing near her stool until she heard him mutter "Well he would say something like that huh?"

She blinked "What do you mean?"

"Well, Natsu's never been the sort of guy to really pay attention to history and that sort of thing," He began explaining. "When he goes to a new place, he just picks up what he can about it, so to him experiences matter the most. We heard a whole bunch of bad things about that country, you know? Look what happened to Hope."

Carla nodded "Understandable. I haven't thought of it that way. I have to admit, I did wonder how Hope could possibly become the White Paladin even after what he experienced."

"Some of us questioned it too." Mira spoke, making Carla realize that she could hear them. Her expression turned a little sad before continuing "He said he just wanted to do it...especially because he knows what it's like to want help in the worst of times. So he's perfectly all right with being there for others...because at the end of the day, no one really wants to be alone, you know?"

The white cat let out a breath. They all knew how selfless Hope could be so this wasn't a surprise. "...That sounds like something he'd say."

Happy smiled "Aye!"

Wendy blinked "Whoa, the Altair was a treasure hunter?"

Natsu looked curious at this and came to read over her shoulder "Huh, whaddya know."

'I suppose it would have helped with his discoveries.' Endymion mused.

"Could you go back to the beginning, Hope-san? This story sounds interesting." Wendy remarked.

He smiled "Sure."

* * *

_That's the end of that! _

_So...was it all right? I just wanted something light after all the stuff from the previous arc. I meant to write about Hope's new appearance before. Only by the time I remembered, I already had the Oracion Seis arc going so now's a good time as any. Seeing as I doubt my description help (I've always been terrible with descriptive writing. I'm working on that so please bear with me) I'm going to post a new picture of Hope in the coming days. _


	28. Chapter 28

_Hey there!_

_Can I just say that image manager can be a real pain in the neck? I would've put the chapter up sooner. I had so much trouble putting the picture up that I just dropped it before. I can't remember how I did it last time._

_Well, now that I got that out of my system, on with the chapter!  
_

* * *

"So you met your Aunt, that's nice." Mira smiled.

"Oh, that's why Juvia looked so happy before." Elfman realized. "I bet she told her manly stories about you."

"Oh I bet." Cana smirked. "Isn't that why that lady thought Juvia was his girlfriend?"

Gray scowled at her. Trust Cana to pick on that immediately. "How the hell should I know? Knock it off!"

"Touchy, aren't we?" She returned amiably.

Evergreen shook her head "Well, it is a reasonable thought with how she goes on about you."

"Yeah, that doesn't make it any better."

"Well, I think it's sweet. You're hardly likely to get a more devoted girlfriend, Gray." Mira smiled.

"Don't start! I'm not looking for a girlfriend now."

Cana smirked "Now, huh?"

"Oh, lay off."

Mira saw Erza arriving and perked up "Oh Erza! Have I got a surprise for you..."

"You do?"

"Mmhm. I happened to see this..." Mira lifted a paper and turned it to face her. Erza's mouth fell as she read the words on it. "...So?"

"I'm taking it!" She exclaimed at once.

* * *

One of the things Natsu loved about Fairy tail was the unpredictability. Even in their fights, there could be something new along the way.

That was why he thought he was pretty open minded and prepared to deal with anything.

But he just couldn't remember seeing Erza so excited for a job. Ever. She almost squealed when Mira showed her the job request and practically rushed to it.

He wasn't the only one who noticed either.

"So you don't know why she's acting like this either?" Lucy whispered.

"Nope, it's starting to freak me out..."

"You never saw the request, did you?" An amused Gray asked.

"No..." The two answered in tandem, giving him curious looks. Happy wanted to come along because he wanted to see what kind of job could excite Erza so much. Wendy came along to help and Carla came to keep an eye out for her. Since Natsu decided that he wanted to find out too, Hope and Lucy decided to go along to try and keep the peace.

Keyword being try of course.

"We're supposed to go and grab some rare herbs from a forest for a client. She's running a pharmacy but she's having trouble getting to the location so she put up a request." Gray began.

"Okay but I don't get why Erza's so fired up..." Natsu said.

"I'm getting there. It's the reward. Part of it is money, the other part is a kilogram of maximum sweet strawberries."

"Maximum sweet strawberries?" Lucy parroted while Natsu and Wendy exchanged a puzzled look.

'You mean that ridiculously rare strawberry Erza used to pick from the valley?' Endymion asked.

"Bingo."

Hope blinked "I remember that...I wonder how she managed to get that much."

"They're really that rare?" Lucy asked, making sure to keep up with Happy and Erza who were walking ahead.

'Erza said the only place she knew they existed was the valley I mentioned. The field used to be guarded by some vulcans. According to her, they were rather...vile.'

"What's with all the past tense?" Lucy asked, a little unnerved.

It was Natsu who replied "You need to ask? They had to deal with Erza. That's bound to change things."

"Point taken...so did the field run out or something?"

"I think she mentioned something about a rock slide..." Gray said.

Lucy suppressed a wince. "That couldn't have ended well..."

"...Well, there's a reason the forest vulcans avoid everyone from the guild." Hope admitted.

"Yeah, Erza almost blew her top off. She said the vulcans messed around so much and they ended up causing the rockslide." Gray added.

Natsu shuddered "Don't remind me. Like Hope said, she traumatized them. It was freaky enough watching that temper. Thanks to her, I couldn't get a good training spot for a month."

'That's because you love to pick fights.' Endymion said flatly. 'Though one would think the first time was enough.'

"Ah, that's no big deal. Those jerks talk tough but that's all they do."

Lucy and Gray seemed curious as Wendy asked for them all "What happened?"

Hope smiled a little. He didn't remember much about that but Natsu had filled him in when the boy started working on his memoria magic. "After they took me in, Natsu ended up picking a fight with a vulcan who just stumbled into the home. Igneel wasn't there, so the vulcan just started laughing when Natsu told him to leave."

"And of course Natsu attacked, didn't he?" Carla guessed.

"Yup, it only burned him and Natsu was still learning to handle his magic. The vulcan got really ticked off and he just charged in so I scared him into leaving."

Now that took them by surprise "How?"

It was Natsu who answered "He made my fire really strong and it turned up about Igneel's size so he got spooked real quick and took off."

"So your magic even affects other types like that?" A surprised Lucy asked.

"Yeah, Future Drive only works on spells after they're cast so the timing has to be just right because the effect lasts for a short while."

"And yet you still fought those guys regularly?" She addressed Natsu.

"Well, I wasn't going to let that one time scare me."

"I'll go on a limb and say it was much more than one time." Carla deadpanned.

Gray looked at his rival "So Igneel never found out, huh?"

Natsu blinked "How'd you know?"

"I figure if he's half the good dad you make him out to be, he would have punished you for that attitude. It would've made you at least think twice about it."

The dragonslayer said nothing to that, making the ice mage smirk knowingly.

* * *

"Oh, this place looks a lot better!" Happy exclaimed as he looked around Hargeon.

"Come to think of it, we haven't been back since that day..." Natsu trailed off.

"Does this have anything to do with why people keep giving you dark looks?" Wendy asked as they passed a shop.

"Meh, it's no big deal."

Lucy gave him an unimpressed look "How is you destroying the entire port not a big deal?!"

Wendy blanched while Carla raised an eye.

"They got it fixed up, didn't they?" Natsu retorted.

"Way to miss the point!"

"I told you that creep pissed me off! It just happened!"

"Yup, classic flame brain." Gray muttered while Erza sighed.

"Hey, neither of you get to talk! You destroy a lot of stuff too!"

"Do you hear us denying it? Start taking responsibility for your actions." Erza said sternly.

Carla let out a breath "I'm guessing this is what Endymion meant by you continuing to try keeping things peaceful."

Hope smiled "Yeah, it just ended up like that anyway..."

"...Has anyone ever told you that you have the patience of a saint?"

"Try all of us." Gray said with a snort. He took a step back, noticing a shop at the corner. "Isn't that the pharmacy from the request?"

"Yeah, let's go." Erza said, leading the way.

* * *

The client was an middle aged woman with dark hair named Marigold. After she invited the group to some tea, they got to business. "Now about the request..."

"You wanted us to get you some herbs? The request wasn't really clear." Lucy wanted to clarify.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I wouldn't have a problem doing it normally but my mother needs some help back in the old house and I'm preparing to leave. I need to settle things in order. She could use some of the medicine I can make from those herbs so I really appreciate the help."

"So what kind of herbs are we talking about here?"

"Oh, here." Marigold took out a paper. "I've written down all about the ones I need. They're not too far away but getting some of them can be difficult. I've been having trouble lately."

"Don't worry about a thing, lady. We got you covered." Natsu assured as Erza picked up the list.

Marigold smiled "I'll be counting on you then."

* * *

The first wasn't too hard to find, it was right near the town's outskirts in fact. Thus leaving nine more to go. The team split up to search, with Gray, Wendy and Carla finding the second one near a waterfall. All Wendy had to do was propel herself up with her magic and pick it.

"This one?" Happy questioned, taking an herb on his paws.

"No, it's similar but the tips should be purple." Hope answered.

"Okay..."

Natsu stood on a cliff, holding a dandelion-like plant with the flower part being blue "Hey guys, this is one of them, right?"

"Yeah!" Happy called back. "...When did he even get up there?"

'He just does things by his own pace.' Endymion remarked.

* * *

Lucy ended up finding the purple tipped herb instead "Okay, that's two." She put it in a bag. "The others probably found some more so would you take it easy already?"

"I can't!" Erza said at once. She had practically dashed all over the place in her attempts to get the herbs. Let's just say those attempts definitely caused more harm than good. "I've missed the taste of those strawberries for so long...even now, I'm so excited that I finally get the chance to have some..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Lucy shook her head. Erza was already very...intense when it came to certain things, like cake, but now she was very adamant on getting some of those strawberries as soon as possible.

A while later, they found the rest of the group near the waterfall, talking to two men and a woman. One of them was examining a coach up close.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Wendy turned to them and explained. After the two groups met up, she and Natsu had overheard the sound of their ride crashing and found the three in this shape. Apparently, their coach had been washed away by a big wave until it crashed into the other side of the cliff, badly damaging two of its wheels in the process. She had just finished healing their injuries.

"You got washed away? So there's a mage somewhere around here?" Lucy questioned.

"That's what we presumed but Wendy and Natsu never found another person's smell, Hope tried searching too but that didn't work." Carla informed.

The woman hung close to the man sitting next to her "Darling, what should we do? The rumors about the beast of the forest were true after all..."

"Yeah," the man wrapped an arm around her. "I thought it was just some lie but I guess that could be why Marigold has been having a hard time getting herbs."

"That's what we're doing for her." Happy piped up.

The man blinked, then noticing the dragon slayers' guild marks "Oh, you're guild wizards...So you never saw anything like this on your way?"

"Nope, nothing."

"You guys should get back to Hargeon. I don't know about some beast but I guess we'll just have to see what comes out of this." Gray said.

The couple were all too happy to agree and so left. The coach driver called for them to wait only to grimace when he was reminded that he was already paid so they had no reason to.

"I wonder if Margiold might have seen something like this." Erza mused.

"Could be, she did say she was having trouble getting herbs. We just never asked why." Happy pointed out.

"Well, there's no point standing here, let's finish what we came for." Lucy said, getting agreement from everyone.

* * *

"This isn't like you. Fair warning, ash brain, keep thinking this much and you'll fry your brain."

"I won't! Shut up!"

Hope looked at Natsu "Gray's right about one thing though. Something on your mind?"

The dragon slayer crossed his arms "Yeah, I don't get it...I heard that guy mumbling something. 'Damn giant must be messing with me again' or something like that."

"Giant?" Happy repeated.

"Well, seeing as it's you, there's no point in asking if you heard right. He might have something to do with the beast." Hope commented.

"That's true." Carla looked at Natsu." You could have told us this before."

His eye twitched "I tried! You guys were already going and the guy pretty much ran off when I questioned him. What a waste..."

"Who cares about that? We just need to take care of our own job." Lucy pointed out.

"Sure you're not scared?" Happy asked with a grin.

"Of course not!" The answer came with a tone a little too high to be entirely convincing.

"I don't care what type of beast it is! Nothing is going to stand between me and those strawberries!" Erza declared so passionately that it seemed flames surrounded her for a few moments, unnerving most of her friends. It was similar to how she would get when she beat up the boys.

Hope looked amused "Nothing new there, how about you just channel that energy into looking for the rest of the herbs?"

"Of course!" She responded at once. "I'm assuming you've started looking?"

"Mmhm, that way." He pointed to the southern path.

"I've asked this before but how the heck can he stay so calm when she's like that?" Gray wondered.

'The same way he gets to keeping you lot from getting in trouble.' Endymion pointed out.

"He's totally used to this." Happy remarked, nodding.

With Erza's drive and Endymion's magic, they were able to find most of them fairly quickly. The problem came with the last two herbs on the list.

"I think we've been all over the forest now..." Gray looked around the clearing they had just arrived in.

Happy and Carla flew to the group, the former looking a little freaked out. "We found them..."

Lucy eyed them closely "There's but in there somewhere, right?"

Carla nodded "But...we found what I think might be the beast too."

"Ehh!?"

* * *

The beast in question was bigger than all of them, towering over the trees. He was a giant!

He was currently leaning against a rocky wall, looking bored. He wore viking like armor over somewhat ragged clothes, making him seem intimidating. There was a scar on his leg and face, which held intense dark eyes. A massive axe rested on a boulder about as big as the giant himself.

"A giant?!"

Natsu whistled "Huh, never seen one before..."

"So the herbs are in the area beyond that boulder, correct?" Erza questioned.

"She completely ignored him..." Wendy muttered, unknowingly voicing what the cats were thinking.

"Erza's scarier than that guy if you ask me..." Gray trailed off.

"Ain't that the truth." Natsu added, nodding.

"Why are you guys so calm about this?" Lucy demanded. "You're telling me we have to get past that guy?!"

'I fail to see the problem.'

If Lucy could glare at Endymion, she would have. "Yeah, that's not saying much coming from you!"

'You've already dealt with worse.'

The giant moved before she could respond, glaring down at them "Humans..." Everyone looked at him. "Come to try and capture me again, have you? Fools!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Happy asked.

But the giant seemed to be very angry at the thought "I've had enough! None of you are going to get out of here!"

Gray frowned "Get ready, here he comes!"

* * *

The giant's temper turned it into a fierce battle right from the start. He was clearly very determined, refusing to go down. If his appearance proved him to be a strong fighter then all this fight did was reaffirm that impression.

The first thing that matched the giant's temper right from the get go was Erza's drive. The knight mage couldn't help but think that the giant was the only obstacle to getting their job done, which meant getting the maximum sweet strawberries. So there was no way she was letting him stop her.

"Take this!" She slammed him with a big hammer.

Since the armor dulled most of the impact, he was able to keep giant hit the ground with his fist, making enough force for the ground to shake. He smirked and raised his axe for the following strike...

"You're getting on my nerves. Ice Make: Cage!"

The giant stopped when the magic circle flashed, leaving him to be trapped in the icy construct. After recovering from the surprise, he quickly swung his axe and destroyed it.

"Scorpio!" Lucy summoned the spirit. "Get him!"

He smirked "Sand buster!"

"You're annoying!" The giant grunted as he struggled to move.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu cast, forcing their enemy to try and dodge the flames. He was forced into a corner as a result.

"Luminous tornado!"

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

The giant was sent crashing down by the vortex of wind and light and Erza took the opportunity to strike once more.

"Circle Sword!"

"I feel kind of sorry for him." Happy told Carla.

"Hm, I'd say don't bother but I can see why. He never stood a chance."

* * *

"You know, Lucy-san, I'm thinking maybe we hit him a little too much on the head." Scorpio commented.

"Seeing this, I'm inclined to agree." His summoner muttered

'This' meant the giant's attitude. Once he woke up after Erza knocked him out, he was insistent on blocking their path more than ever. This lead to a fight developing between him, Natsu and Erza.

The giant, who they learned was called Gregor, had come to the forest because he needed time to rest after being attacked by a group who had wanted to capture him and sell him in the black market. After that, he had decided to get some payback at the humans and he knew for a fact that one of them lived in the town right nearby.

The main problem now was that Gregor, had changed from the warrior they had seen to someone practically as childish as Natsu at his worst. They were still trying to understand how that worked.

"Get out of our way!"

"I said no, you dumb human! You can't make me!" And for good measure, he pulled his tongue at Natsu.

"Why you..."

"Seriously?" Gray muttered while the rest sweat dropped.

"I can't believe I was scared of this guy..." Lucy shook her head.

Erza walked up to Gregor "You heard him, move!"

"Oh, so you're as deaf as you are dumb? Forget it and get lost!"

"Why should we?! We've come a long way to get here, you know!"

"Because I said so!" Gregor seemed to have forgotten that he was talking to the humans who had given him a beatdown.

This was a point Erza was all too happy to remind him of. She re-equipped her arm with a large gold and silver arm guard before punching Gregor's stomach, making him gasp in surprise.

"You will get out of our way or I will make you!" She snapped, fed-up with this pointless argument.

Gregor managed to hide his fear for the most part, deciding it was better to just get those humans away from him.

"Fine, how about you try to get that boulder out of the way? You can use whatever way you want. I'll even give you a map of the forest if you do it before the end of the day."

Natsu smirked, flames surrounded his fists "Are you kidding? That's easy!"

* * *

Unfortunately, he had spoken too soon.

It turned out that Gregor had set a blockade around the field behind the boulder, which meant that they couldn't use destroy the boulder as it could lead to the blockade falling apart and destroying the field. This lead to the team trying to think up ways to move the boulder out of the way.

They came up with a bunch of idea. Erza tried to use one of her armors to do it but the boulder was too heavy. Happy suggested making the ground wet around it to make it easier to push, but that was a no go.

Natsu turned to the first person he knew could help with something like this "Hope, can't you think of any way around this?"

"Well..."

The two were distracted by Gregor's laughter.

"Hah, so you really can't do it!" He jeered.

Natsu scowled "Lay off, moving something that big when we have to be careful isn't easy."

"Really? Well, you mages are pathetic, aren't you?"

"What was that?!"

Gregor just yawned "This was rather dull. That's what I get for raising expectations."

"All right, that's it...!"

"You're taking this so lightly." The two looked at Hope."You make it sound like removing that wall is so simple but that's all it is, talk. Can you actually do it?"

"Of course I can!" Gregor said, insulted.

Lucy got a sly look while Erza smirked, knowing where this was going. "I bet you can't. Talk's cheap, you know?"

"Not to mention boring. Natsu and Gray may be destructive but they can at least back up their boasts. You on the other hand? Clearly, not so much." Erza added with a bored look.

"We're just going to have to figure things out somehow. We don't need some geezer to help." Gray sneered.

"You said it." Happy huffed.

"Oh, that's it, you brats! Watch this!" Gregor lifted the giant boulder at once and placed it on his left side."See? Piece of cake!"

"Oh it is, I suppose. You are strong after all." Carla had to fight to keep the smirk of her face while Wendy hid her smile behind her mouth.

"I told you so!"

"All right, hand over the map, tough guy." Natsu grinned.

"What?! I don't have to!"

"Yes, you do. We got the boulder out of the way."

"Are you blind, human? That was me! You backed out of the deal!"

"None of us did." Hope smiled when the giant looked at him. "You gave us until night time to get the wall out of the way. Not break it, just remove it. You also said by any means necessary, there wasn't anything about us having to do the actual work. Just make sure it gets done before the time limit."

"Wha...? But..." Gregor struggled to find some way to dispute that claim but realized he couldn't. They just used his own words against him.

"So, the map, please." Erza requested.

The giant sighed "Fine, you sneaky little...hold on a minute."

* * *

Gray burst out laughing "Hope, that was brilliant!"

"Yeah, his face was priceless! Serves him right!" Happy grinned.

'It certainly does.' Endymion chipped in, after all the grief Gregor gave them, this was more than fair in his book.

"Yeah, nice work!" Lucy added.

Hope just smiled "Thanks."

"I feel bad for him..." Wendy admitted.

"Why? He was insufferable." Carla remarked. "Besides, seeing as you've done more than enough to help with how you healed his injuries, just leave it at that."

"Yeah, let's just get this over with." Gray agreed and they quickened their pace to the field.

With that out of the way, the team was able to finish their job. They also gave the map to Marigold and went back to Magnolia.

* * *

"You know, this just hit me but seeing as Erza can't cook to save her life..." Gray scowled when the redhead glared at him. "...It's true and you know it."

This was the one subject he wouldn't back out on in front of her. Mainly because Gray was still sore over the time where she offered to make him and Mira lunch, and how they both got sick right after that. "Anyway, how is she going to make use of her share of strawberries?"

"If you must know, I was going to ask the baker on my way to Fairy Hills." She responded.

"I won't bother. Hope, can you make something with my share?" Happy asked.

"Oh, good idea, Happy! I want in this!" Natsu chimed in.

Hope hadn't expected that and his expression showed that much. "Sure, if it works for you." The two cheered, eliciting a smile from him. "So, what do you want?"

"We'll leave it to the chef." His childhood friend responded.

"Aye Sir!"

Later they all gathered at the Dreyar's house, finding that he was finishing up the desserts with the maximum sweet strawberries.

Makarov, who had been welcomed by Team Natsu when he heard of this, tried a spoonful of the souffle in front of him. His eyes widened "I'm starting to see why Erza made such a big deal over this stuff."

"Yeah, it's delicious!" Lucy beamed.

"The taste's amazing, right, Carla?" Wendy said with a smile.

"It is...maybe that's why those strawberries are rare."

"Wouldn't surprise me." Gray nodded. Erza was too busy eating the cake she had made to comment, thinking that her taste buds had just gone to heaven. "Compliments to the chef."

"Aye! Nice work, Hope!" Happy chirped.

The boy smiled in response. "Thanks, glad you like it."

Natsu was about to speak, possibly voice his agreement when he noticed Erza looking at his plate, making him pull it close. "Don't even think about it."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Yeah, right! I know how you get around cake. Remember Bisca's birthday cake?"

"That was only one time. I was hungry!"

The rest listened to them and just laughed, deciding to leave the two to it.

* * *

_Well, that's that.  
_

_Looking back, I'm thinking maybe I've been sticking with the canon a little too much. I'm thinking that I need to get creative. Now that I'm on holiday, I've got good time to try and plan the next chapters some more. _

_Please read and review! It would be nice to hear what readers think of this story._


	29. Chapter 29

_AngelFaux: Thanks for the reviews. Since this is the only way I can reply, here it is. _

_You do make a good point. The problem is that until Fairy tail 2014 ended, all the stuff I knew about the manga came from my little brother. Which basically adds up to little pieces from the newer arcs. But no, Hope's from the present. Endymion happened to land near the area where the dragon lived with Natsu after escaping Demon Fang and Igneel found him after sensing his magic. As I'm sure you can guess, I planned this story before the chapter about the 400 year plan came out. I had an idea about the dragons but it's still a work in progress. I'm going to have to change things up somewhat. I haven't gotten that far in planning the fic yet and honestly I'm a little worried about what will happen when I do get there. I will say that might have a couple of my own arcs planned after Tartarus and they're going to affect what happens in the following canon arcs._

_I'm going to introduce a character earlier than I originally intended but he fit in pretty well. I wanted to start the Edolas arc but I need to get this chapter out of the way first, it's a prelude to the next arc. It'll be the first one that I made up completely. For the record, it'll be called the Mystic Blessing arc. _

_Welp, now that that's sorted, here's chapter 29, everyone. Enjoy!_

* * *

Hope, Endymion, Wendy and Carla arrived at a spot near the forest's end. The young dragon slayer looked around curiously, noticing the clearing ahead.

"Oh, this is where you train, Hope-san?"

"Yeah, it was the best place for us since I needed time to get used to Endymion's power. Natsu and the others got in this and now it's routine for all of us."

'Unfortunately, that comes with its own set of problems.' Endymion remarked, confusing the three.

But then they saw the blasts of fire and ice in the air before taking note of the two people who seemed to be arguing in the clearing.

"Ah, of course. Exhibit A." An exasperated Hope sighed. Usually, they wouldn't care but it looked like those two were just butting heads instead of working out.

Carla rolled her eyes and Wendy sweat dropped before the first said "It is good that this isn't happening in the guild but how do they find so many things to fight about?"

"Another question with no answer." Hope shrugged before the three walked to their friends.

* * *

"Would you stop that?! I need to concentrate!" Lucy snapped before she tried to get back to the exercise Capricorn showed her. It would help raise her magic power.

Happy merely continued to nibble on his fish, far too used to Natsu and Gray's behavior to really care. He perked up at the sight of the new arrivals, one in particular.

"Carla!" Hearts replaced his eyes for a second before he took a fish from his bag. "Would you like one?"

"No thanks." She replied in the same tone she used around him.

Erza approached them then "Oh, Wendy. So you want to join us?"

"Yeah, I want to learn more about my magic. Natsu-san offered to help me!"

Gray blinked "You're going to do what? You'll screw the kid over."

"No I won't!" Natsu growled. "I'm a better teacher than you'll ever be."

"Yeah, right! You got that backwards, moron!"

"Why you..."

Hope decided to tune them out "Lucy, can you help her with those exercises? It did us a world of good last time."

"Sure! Come on, Wendy." The girl joined the celestial mage. "Okay, first let's meditate. You just have to breathe in and out. It'll clear your mind..."

Erza smiled as she watched them for a few moments "Hope, why don't we have a little duel? It's been so long since the last time."

He blinked "? Sure, I guess."

"Seriously? We all know how that's going to end..." Happy never got to finish because Erza smacked him on the back of his head.

"We don't need the negative commentary again." She said with a pointed look.

Hope shook his head and picked the cat up "Did you have to do that? It's not like he's wrong."

"And that's exactly why." She responded. "Besides, the whole point of training is to learn and grow stronger. You've worked very hard and are improving quite clearly."

He smiled a bit "Thanks." Hope blinked when he saw her eyebrow twitch before she raised her voice. "Natsu, Gray. Enough! You need to get serious as well!"

"A-Aye!"

Hope just sighed and Happy rolled his eyes. Carla merely seemed unimpressed as she remarked "Let's just see how long they can last."

'I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.' Endymion said dryly.

* * *

And with that, the practice duel got under way. It was as fierce as the observers expected from the fighters' level. As Happy predicted, Erza had the upper hand, both more experienced and stronger than her opponent but Hope was no slouch. He tried his best to give her a run for her money and Erza was pleased to note how much better he had gotten since last time. He even managed to knock one of her swords out of hand at the end of the fight, surprising everyone including himself.

But then she found a chance to strike, pushing Hope back and making him lose his swords in return.

Hope stopped to catch his breath. Truthfully, he was a little disappointed by this but then he expected as much. "That's that...great as always, Erza."

She returned his smile "Well, thank you. Like I said you've gotten stronger so don't sell yourself short. Why don't we join Lucy and Wendy?"

"Okay..."

Natsu got bored quickly and left. He decided to take advantage of the situation and challenge Gray to a fight. Though he agreed, he was annoyed at being interrupted so he scoffed and insulted Natsu. This resulted in getting them both more than ready to fight.

Erza, who had quite enough at this point, slammed their heads together and made them hurry to start. The knight mage then decided to include Hope in the fight and he complied, seeing no reason not to.

"Try this, Ice Make: Cage!"

"Lame! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu smirked at his rival. "That all you got?"

"You wish, Ice Make: Lance!"

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

This was followed by an icy cannon from Gray and Natsu responded by using his signature roar to deal with it.

"They're even." Carla noted.

"Nothing new there." Happy blinked when the two stopped in their place. "What happened?"

Lucy had a good guess "The morons forgot about Hope."

Erza nodded, knowing that the templar had been behind that.

Hope gave his friends a look "Well since you've both gone that far, it's my turn. Prism Rain!"

He fired several bullets from his weapons which then broke, revealing several rays of light that rained down on them. As Natsu and Gray hurried to dodge or defend themselves, Hope struck again "Luminous Tornado!"

When they could move freely, the two prepared to attack. Both were surprised to find that Hope was gone, just noticing that their spells canceled each other.

"Thanks a lot, snow flake. This worked because you got in my way!"

"Really? I'd like to say the same to you!" They were hit by a couple of soild light bullets that hit with enough force to knock them down. "Jeez, Hope!"

"Hey, you're the ones ignoring me _and_ forgetting the entire reason we're all here. _Again_. I'm just giving you a reason not. Keep in mind that I held back and didn't do a lot worse like Endymion wanted me to."

Gray had to give him that one. The training routine had started with him and the girls at first, since they started it out with meditation and some exercises they took naturally to. Gray didn't so bad in those himself but there was the fact that he and Natsu clashed like always, he wasn't sure why himself sometimes.

This was another time he was thankful Hope didn't have a temper like Erza's, they would've been so much worse off if he did. He was probably getting fed up of taking the peaceful approach with their fights though.

After that disaster of a first time here, it took them a while to convince Erza to let them come and that was after they assured that they would try harder and take the training seriously.

Heck of a good job they were doing, huh?

"Good point, that..." He relented. Judging by Natsu's silence, he might be coming to understand that too.

But it could be also because of the glare Erza was sending their way.

"...All right, lemme give this a try. Ice Make: Cold Excalibur."

A sword of ice appeared on Gray's hand then and he attacked Hope, who defend against the strike before he stepped up.

It looked like he disappeared. Then he appeared by Gray's left and sent him reeling with his sheathed sword.

"...Okay, what the heck was that?!" Happy wanted to know.

"It's a new spell I'm working on." Hope admitted. It needed him to surround himself with magic, so he did by taking advantage of the fact that his friends were entirely too concentrated on beating each other. "Silver Impulse is supposed to last for a while but it only works once every time with me."

"I couldn't see you at all! That's a work in progress?" Natsu asked, wide-eyed.

"Yup!"

He smirked "All right, this is getting interesting. Let's keep going!"

* * *

"Heeh, all that happened?" Rebecca tilted her head a little. "You think I can join you guys next time? I want to try."

"Sure, why not?" Lucy responded.

They were on a train heading to the destination of their next job. Rebecca had come along, deciding to help out. Gray had left with Team Shadow Gear after a bet he made with Jet earlier that day.

This let her take time to get to know the team some more and it was also when she was told about Endymion. To her credit, Rebecca took it rather well. Though she couldn't help but admit that she never thought such a thing was possible. Shrugging the thought off, she started treating Endymion like a friend.

"Still..." She glanced at Natsu, who was walking around the train. "...someone's excited, huh?"

"That's one part I didn't tell you. Dragon slayers get really motion sick for some reason, so Natsu's never really seen any transportation right before. Wendy's magic can fix his sense of equilibrium."

"Oh, cool!" She nodded, appreciating how useful the girl's powers were.

* * *

"There was a shard in the woodsea?" Erza repeated, surprised.

'There might have been.' Endymion informed. 'The pendant reacted again but it just stopped so quickly. I'm still not sure what to think of that.'

"That is strange..."

Hope turned to the door as it opened, revealing Natsu. "So, enjoyed your tour?"

"Meh, it was okay." He shrugged. "I still don't see what's so good about transportation. Can we go eat now?"

"After I explain more about the job." Lucy promised.

"Okay, shoot."

And she did just that.

Recently, there had been a strange case of disappearances in some towns and cities. Some guilds worked on investigating this, with Fairy tail and Lamia Scale being the most recent. Alzack and Bisca had gone themselves and found the people after some effort. While this was good news, there was more to it. The people didn't remember anything, almost as if they had been sleeping before they vanished. Also they seemed rather tired and a number of them were understandably scared, so the mages helped calm them down.

Two odd things remained about this.

The first was powerful golems appearing in those same places and going on a rampage. They vanished without a trace too.

The second was the fact that every missing person was a mage.

The group was going to one of the cities where the golems appeared more than once to deal with the issue.

"I wonder why this happened..." Wendy trailed off.

"This all seems strange." Carla remarked, crossing her arms.

"Agreed, but that's why we're going. There's definitely more to this than meets the eye." Erza blinked at the odd sound that reached her ears, rolling her eyes when she knew what it was.

"Natsu..."

"Hey, I can't help it! You're the one who insisted that we go early to make sure we don't miss the train. That's why I missed breakfast."

"Well, it's not like we can go about this with empty stomachs. Let's go." Rebecca chipped in helpfully, earning a grateful look from him.

"I'm still getting used to the fact that _you're _actually okay enough to eat on transportation." Hope remarked.

"That makes two of us. Wendy's magic rocks!" Natsu grinned.

* * *

The city was mostly quiet, with the damage the golems caused clear for anyone to see. The incident was clearly fresh in people's minds and they were merely hoping they would be safe in their homes.

"Oh, you're from Fairy tail..." A merchant said, noticing the mark on Natsu's shoulder. "...Here to investigate those attacks, right?"

"Yeah, we want to stop them too while we're at it. Can you tell us anything you know?" Rebecca asked.

"Hm, let's see...well, a couple of the people are actually some of my regular customers. They couldn't remember anything like the rest, mind you. But one of them said she might have seen something, a pretty creepy house from her description. She was pretty out of it though, so we're not sure yet."

"Oh well, thanks."

"Sure, good..."

"Hey, old man, you mentioned Fairy tail?" A male voice as someone stepped up from the building next to the merchant's store.

The merchant blinked "Eh? Well, it's those kids..."

"Really?" The speaker came into light then. "So...oh!" A wide grin settled on his face when he saw the group. "Yo, guys!"

"Gildarts!" Natsu and Happy exclaimed, looking just as glad to see him.

* * *

Wendy looked confused "Who's your friend, Happy?"

"He's Gildarts, Fairy tail's strongest mage!"

The merchant blinked "Oh, so he's one of you..."

The man smiled "Erza, Hope, been a while, huh?"

"Mmhm, you look well." The first replied while the latter smiled back.

"Yeah!" he looked at the newer girls. "I see we got some cute members here. Hey there, I'm Gildarts Clive."

Introductions followed this, with the new arrival admitting his surprise to see Carla. They went to take some seats in the park.

Gildarts eyed the group with curiosity "Well, you guys got stronger. Nice."

"Hey, what do you expect? You've been gone for three years." Natsu grinned. "On that note, Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

The newer members of Fairy tail freaked out when Gildarts punched him, slamming the dragon slayer into the ground.

"Whoa!"

Sighing, Hope cast Athena's veil on the teen as Endymion spoke 'Why you still keep doing that is completely beyond me, Natsu.'

Gildarts merely looked on, grinning. "Nice to se...ah, I mean hear from you, big guy."

'The same to you.' Endymion returned. 'What are you doing here?'

"Oh, I was actually heading back to Magnolia. But then I heard about those weird disappearances and attacks. I figured why not help if I can."

"That's totally like you." Hope remarked.

"Heh, guess so. That's one thing we have in common, huh?" He responded, ruffling his hair and getting a laugh out of him.

He leaned back "So, you all got room for one more?"

"Aye!" Happy chirped.

"All righty, let's get to work." Everyone agreed and they followed the man deeper into the city.

* * *

They tried talking to the merchant's regular customers only to learn that they definitely didn't remember a thing, only that they had awakened in a dark, bleary room with a lot of devices. But the machinery seemed to be far too damaged for anyone to know its purpose. The one thing the two seemed to agree on was that they had been invited somewhere, but they couldn't remember the place or the sender of the invitation.

"I don't know about you but it sounds like we just got a whole load of nothing." Lucy sighed.

"Just when I thought this couldn't be more confusing..." Gildarts scratched his head.

"So what do we do now?" Natsu asked the group.

"Well, that's the best is play it by the ear and see what happens." Erza replied and they headed to the inn.

Now that he had a chance, Gildarts decided to catch up with his guild mates "So how's everyone doing back home?"

"Pretty good! The guild got totaled so we rebuilt it, you wouldn't believe how much it changed." Happy told him.

This peaked his interest "Really now?"

"Aye, it was after the war..." So with some input from Erza and Endymion, he started telling the S-class mage about recent events.

"Oh, so you know how to make magic items like they sell in shops?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, which reminds me...Hope, I know you asked for some lessons before but Gray said you know how to do it." Rebecca recalled.

"Not exactly, I only started learning to synthesize items recently. I just used basics and depended a lot on magic to make it work. It helped me shape the item last time." He explained.

"Wait, you can do that?" She blurted. "I know templars came up with some methods for synthesis but I never heard of this. Usually, using too much would just wreck the item."

"I found it in a book. I wouldn't say it's a good thing. The ones I got right still fell apart after one use."

"Huh..." She thought this over. "...Okay, how about we start lessons after we get back?"

"That'd be great, thanks." Hope replied.

"This stuff sounds boring." Natsu remarked, looking between them."

Rebecca gave him an amused look "I thought you'd say that. There's a lot of details involved but it's also this stuff that would let me try to make something to help with your motion sickness."

This gained his interest at once "You can do that?!"

"I can try."

"That sounds awesome!"

"Wendy, you think Carla would like this fish?" Happy asked, producing the fish he had bought on their way here.

Glancing at her cat, who was currently talking to Erza "Well, she's a little picky but I don't think she likes raw fish."

"Oh! I'll keep that in mind."

"You're still at this?" Natsu asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, _Happy _giving fish away?" Gildarts spoke before the cat could respond. That was quite a rare event as far as he knew.

Lucy snickered "Put simply, it's love at first sight."

"Ah." Gildarts grinned, noting the group's interactions with interest. "Didn't see that coming..."

* * *

The next morning came quickly and as the fairy tail team was about to leave the inn, they were surprised by the sound of screaming coming from outside.

"What's going on?"

Erza frowned "Don't tell me..."

Natsu scowled "Let's go!"

* * *

Four golems the color of marble were attacking the city. People were running everywhere, trying to get away as much as possible. Some of them had managed to keep calm enough to help others escape. But in all the chaos, no one noticed one of the golems firing a blast from its mouth towards them...

"Crushing Evil, Spreading the truth: Empyrean!"

The blast was stopped and the observers were shocked to see a man send one of the golems flying high with a single punch.

"You go, Gildarts!" Happy exclaimed.

Wendy stopped in her tracks "Amazing!"

"Get going already!" Carla told the observers irritably.

"Y-yeah, thanks!" A man replied before they started leaving.

Lucy grabbed one of her keys "Gate of the Golden Bull, I open thee! Taurus!"

The powerful bull came out of the light with a cocky grin, looking ready to battle. "Lucy-san, as always it's such a treat to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah, get serious would you!? We're in a battle!" She noticed Gildarts watching the scene with a bemused look and sighed. "Please don't ask."

Wendy and Carla had been flying above the enemies. The first told the former to let her down and she agreed. Wendy surprised her by taking advantage of her increased momentum and pushed one of the golems back with her newly learned Sky Dragon's Wing Attack.

"Nice shot, Wendy! Fire Dragon's Storm!" At first it looked like he was using an Iron Fist but the flames were much stronger. The next second, a fierce stream of fire shot up and melted a hole in the golem his fellow dragon slayer had targeted. They followed it up with a couple of more spells to destroy it.

Lucy dodged the punch coming her way and bound the attacking golem's fist with her whip. She struggled to keep steady as the golem began to move.

"Sonic Wing!" Hope dashed out, using his new spell. He disappeared for a few moments and appeared before Lucy, who couldn't help but stare when the golem's arm broke apart in pieces. She only realized her friend sliced it when she saw his swords drawn, the blades shining with magic. Taurus, who had been trying to dodge the last golem in his haste to help his master, arrived in time to hack its other arm off.

The golem stepped back and prepared to fire a blast, but it was already vulnerable and this just made it easier. Taurus proceeded to make use of the chance by putting his power behind his next strike, creating a large scar in the golem's chest. Hope cast Star Gladius to finish it off.

"Thanks you two." Lucy turned to Hope. "I'm with Natsu, if this Silver Impulse is a work in progress then I want to see the end result." Hope just smiled in response.

Rebecca watched Erza square off against the golem in her Black Wing Armor, once again awed by the knight mage's strength. She acted when the golem stepped back "Cluster blast!"

A number of stones gathered around the golem before they shot at its head. But Rebecca wasn't done "For a follow up, Diamond Strike!"

A large opaque spear struck the golem's back, sending it reeling. Erza attacked then, destroying the golem with her powerful sword play.

She smiled at Rebecca "Nicely done."

The girl responded by giving her a thumbs up sign.

Gildarts watched this with a grin "Damn, I barely got to do a thing. Look how strong they've gotten."

* * *

Rebecca noticed a piece of what had been their enemies, looking in decent shape for the most part. "Hey, guys, do you think we can give this to the council?"

Happy perked up "Good idea, then maybe they can figure out who or what made those things."

"Okay, then..." She placed it in her pocket dimension.

"I didn't expect this job to be easy with how mysterious it all was, but we still never found a thing..." Carla mused.

Wendy nodded, frowning "I guess the best thing we can do is give them that piece and see what happens."

"We'll just have to play it by ear until then."

They went to check up on the people, only to be relieved that there hadn't much serious injuries. Wendy had been able to heal them quickly and the team debated their next step again.

Gildarts couldn't help but note that one of them had been too quiet. "What's up, Hope? I thought you'd at least try to help Wendy now."

"Oh, I guess I've been spacing out. Sorry..."

Wendy looked at him "It's okay. Gildarts-san is right though, something on your mind?"

"I've been thinking, those attacks are definitely weird." He began.

Natsu raised an eye "Yeah, you're going to have to be more specific, Hope. We already cleared that up."

Hope shook his head. "That's the thing...I don't think they're random. I checked the information about those attacks with Grandpa before we left. This is the third time they appear in the exact same place. For all their rampage, a lot of places were actually left aside. One of the citizens who talked to the council knights told me. With this attack, the only thing the targeted towns and cities have in common is that they have rich history or large stores of information."

Endymion's eyes narrowed as he caught on 'I see...you think the one pulling the strings here is looking for something.'

"And the golems were either a distraction or an attempt to destroy those places." Lucy added, placing a hand under her chin.

Hope nodded, that was just what he wanted to say. Lucy continued "Maybe they found what they wanted and let those things loose so no would find out what they're after..."

Carla crossed her arms "I suppose this is why the mage teams never found specific information when they rescued the people. Whoever is behind this is very careful, they ensured to clear everything up and disappear. That could be why the council didn't look as they should have into this mystery at first, this would help lower their guard."

"Wait but then, could the culprit be nearby?" Erza wondered.

"Let's find out." Natsu and Wendy shared a look and nodded before using their enhanced senses to see if they could find that person. Hope started using his scan to help.

* * *

This lead to them finding someone near the train station. They were standing in the shadows, and so no one could see their face. Green and black monstrous looking armor covered their body, with a broadsword strapped to the back. They could faintly see the form of a helmet near the shoulders.

"I'm surprised you found me. My little creations need some fine tuning, but you're not so bad, mages of Fairy tail." The voice was a little distorted, so no one could discern the speaker's gender.

"Who are you?" Happy demanded.

The speaker chuckled "Do you think I'd tell so easily? You came this far, why don't you try and find out?"

Erza looked like she wanted to attack but then the person dropped something, and it released a blinding flash of light. When they could see again, the person was gone.

* * *

Happy sighed as he recalled this. They were heading back to Magnolia, having sent the golem piece with one of the citizens.

"I can't believe we were that close..."

"No use crying over spilled milk. We'll figure this out when we can." Gildarts shrugged.

"True but it is frustrating." Erza leaned back. "Come to think of it, we never did ask about your job. How did that go?"

"Ah, wait until we get home. I'll tell you all then."

'Just to clarify, you took that hundred year quest, right?' Endymion wanted to know.

"Yup, for now I'll just say that I ran into something I never would've expected."

"What's a hundred year quest?" Lucy wanted to know.

'They're extremely difficult jobs that could take that many years to finish.'

"Whoa..."

"I remember Natsu wanting to take one..." Happy trailed off.

Carla blinked "You what?"

He rolled his eyes "Big deal. I only asked because the ones we had were collecting dust. I didn't even know what it was but I bet I could do it!"

"You're not ready. Don't even think about it." Erza gave him a stern look that made him stiffen.

"A-aye..."

Gildarts chuckled "With how you've all grown, I can't wait to see the others."

"Well, you're in for some surprises." Hope informed.

"All the more better!"

* * *

_Well, that's the end of that._

_How was it? I just thought of introducing Gildarts when I planned the chapter. Sorry if it seems rushed but I couldn't think of anything. Adding some more would mean pushing some of what I had planned for the Blessing arc and I want to avoid that.  
_

_Ever since I started writing this, the two most troublesome parts were Edolas and the 7 year gap. This is especially annoying because I've got a bunch of ideas for some of the other arcs, especially Tenrou and the Grand Magic Games, even Tartarus. I've got Edolas kind of figured out now but the time skip...I was thinking maybe I should just keep it the same since it's such a big deal and all but I'm still not sure. Do you think I should?_

_Thanks for reading the chapter and please review!_


	30. Chapter 30

_Solana(humming happily):..._

_Gray: Sure looks like you're in a good mood. _

_Solana: Yup! Turns out this story has over 10,000 views._

_Gray(whistles): Nice._

_Solana: I know, right? _

_Gray: So it's Edolas now, huh?_

_Solana: Yeah, can you start things off?_

_Gray: Sure, why not? Solana Leonhart doesn't own Fairy tail or any of us. What she owns is her own plot and OCs. Here's the new chapter!_

* * *

"Some surprise this turned out to be." Carla sighed.

"Really..." Rebecca could barely believe her eyes. Magnolia was currently moved to clear a path for Fairy tail. The town was actually reconstructed and this was routine procedure.

All because of Gildarts.

"I'm confused." Rebecca continued. "Is it really that hard to keep your magic under control?"

The crash mage merely laughed sheepishly "My mind just wanders. Things just end up like that."

"...He really is much more destructive than Natsu, huh?" Lucy asked. Erza and Happy nodded in response.

"And how..." Happy added.

* * *

"Gildarts is back!"

"Hey, all right!"

Cheers sounded off in the guild at Gildarts' return. A number of the people present went to greet him while the rest raised toasts.

"Wow, it's been long!"

"How've you been?"

Victor managed to make his way through the crowd, curious to see the guild's strongest mage, who noticed him then.

"Oh hey..." Gildarts stopped to think. "...Victor, right? Happy told me about you."

"Yeah, I heard some stuff about you too."

"I hope it was good. Well, nice to have you here."

"Thanks..." They were about to sit down when Makarov called Gildarts.

The crash mage walked over. "Master, good to see you."

"Good to see you too." Makarov returned. "So what happened with the job?"

Gildarts stopped for a few seconds before he started laughing "No good. I can't do it."

Almost everyone stilled as they stared at him in shock.

"You're kidding, right?" Elfman asked, wide-eyed.

"Gildarts actually failed a quest?" Gray wondered how he could laugh it off.

'There's a first time for everything, I suppose.' Endymion remarked.

"What kind of job was that?" Hope wondered.

Droy glanced at the request board "I'm not sure I want to know..."

"Now I see why that job was untouched for so long." Evergreen mused.

Gildarts still had his attention on Makarov "Sorry, it'll hurt the guild's reputation."

"No, I'm glad to see you back. You're the only person who survived." The guild master responded. Gildarts merely smiled in response.

Droy's eyes widened "Scratch that, I _really _don't want to know!"

After a while he spent catching up with his friends, Gildarts turned to leave. "Whew, I think I'll go home now. Natsu, Hope, come by my place later. I've got some souvenirs!"

Instead of heading to the door, he went towards a wall. A second later, his magic destroyed part of the wall and he continued walking without a care in the world.

Warren spluttered "Use the door, man!"

Mira merely watched this with an amused look "Ara, ara..."

"This again..." Levy sighed while Makarov stared in dismay.

"Rescindo Wave." Victor cast, fixing the damage in a moment. "You're telling me this is normal?"

"Sadly yes."

"Suddenly that shift makes a lot of sense..."

"All right then!" Some of the observers looked at Natsu, whose fist glowed with magic. He surprised them by also destroying a part of the wall before walking out.

"Don't copy him, moron!" Gray snapped while Freed facepalmed and Elfman groaned. Mira continued to watch with the same amused smile.

"Happy, let's go!" Natsu called.

"Aye!"

Hope stopped to cast Rescindo Wave to take care of the mess before following the two into the town.

"...Have I mentioned how much I appreciate having the two of you around, Victor?" Makarov wondered.

The young man merely laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Honestly, those two..." Erza held a hand to her forehead.

Bisca smiled a bit "Somethings never change, huh?"

* * *

Gildarts' place was small but cozy. It was also a place Natsu, Happy, Hope and Endymion had gotten used to, to an extent. Dust gathered around the place since it hadn't been touched for so long. After having some lunch, the group of four arrived to find Gildarts sitting on a couch.

"Hey, there you are." He greeted.

"Man, we sure haven't been here in a while..." Natsu mused, looking around.

Gildarts smiled "Heh, you're telling me. I almost forgot what the place looked like."

'You certainly went quite far this time,' Endymion remarked.

"Ah, nothin' new for me." He dismissed. "But that's actually why I wanted to talk to you all." Gildarts paused. "Guys, the reason I failed the quest...was a dragon."

Happy blinked "Wait, what?"

"What do you mean?" Hope spoke up.

"I ran into a dragon on the mountain."

Natsu perked up "Was it Igneel?"

"Nope." Gildarts said at once. He learned enough about the Fire Dragon King from Natsu to be sure of that much. "Definitely not. Igneel sounds nice and good. That thing...was evil...I'm still not sure what that beast is, something about it felt strange. That dragon attacked me all of a sudden, I didn't have any choice but to quite the 100 year request."

The boys and Happy exchanged a look, unsure of how to respond as they processed the information.

Endymion spoke then '...Gildarts, did that dragon have black scales and malicious, overwhelming power?'

The crash mage's expression was all the answer he needed "Wait, you've seenit, Endymion?"

'I _fought _him.' The phoenix informed, surprising everyone. 'It's only because I surprised him that I survived. I only recovered thanks to my former healing powers, though I'm fairly sure that battle affected me in the long run. I wished that he had perished but clearly he's still going strong.'

"Unfortunately..." Gildarts nodded.

"Then you know who that dragon is, Endymion?" Hope inquired.

'Up to that point, I only heard about him.' Endymion paused, recalling what he learned back then. 'Acnologia...they call him the Dragon King.'

"Dragon King?"

'I don't have all the details but supposedly he appeared after something called the Dragon King Festival. Acnologia defeated many dragons to the point that he was bathed in their blood, then he just destroyed anyone who faced him and anything in his way. From what I've seen that day, he views us all as inferior creatures. I don't know what this reasons or objective are but I can tell you one thing, he's possibly the darkest being I have ever seen...'

"Whoa..." Happy mumbled, wide-eyed.

Endymion went on 'That's why I can say the two of us are incredibly lucky to survive, it wasn't for the lack of trying on his part.'

"No kidding...leaving the quest bugged me but now I'm definitely not complaining." Gildarts admitted.

Natsu spoke up "Gildarts, where did you see that dragon?"

"Natsu, don't tell me you're going to..." Hope started.

"You bet, I've got to go find him! He might know where Igneel is!"

Happy looked at him "Didn't you hear Endymion? It's not like he's just going to tell even if he does."

"Yeah, so? I'll just force it out of him."

'It's easy for you to talk when you haven't seen him but I highly doubt you can do that.' Endymion informed.

"He's right." Gildarts came to appreciate the phoenix's blunt behavior since it was needed here. He stood, removing his cloak. There were bandages around his torso. He also had a prosthetic arm and leg. "This is how I ended up thanks to him, though after what the big guy just said I'm sure I got off lightly. I'm not sure there's a human who can beat Acnologia."

Natsu had enough "That's what dragon slayers are for!"

Gildarts suddenly remembered something, which he thought was a good time. They needed to change the subject. "Oh hey, how's Lisanna doing these days? I haven't seen her anywhere."

Unfortunately, this had quite the opposite effect.

He knew something bad happened by his friends' expressions. Natsu's answer confirmed the suspicion.

"She died two years ago."

Ignoring Gildarts' shock, Natsu's fist clenched and he stormed off.

The crash mage exhaled "...I didn't see this coming. Still, I'm glad you stayed friends after all, Hope."

The boy was silent for a moment "Well, that's how it ended up...You're the ones who spent this much time talking me into joining up, now you're stuck with me."

Gildarts raised an eye at the cheeky tone but put on a mock-worried expression "Damn, that one really came back to bite us. What're we going to do?"

A second later, neither of them could keep the pretense up and burst out laughing with their friends soon following suit. Happy smiled as the mood was lifted while Gildarts grinned.

"It's good he's got you to look out for him. Keep up the good work, yeah?"

"Sure." Hope left.

"I knew things changed but it's nice to see how those two opened up." Gildarts remarked.

"Aye! Fairy tail was what Hope and Endymion need." Happy grinned.

* * *

Natsu stopped to catch his breath as he punched another rock, barely even noticing the flames that followed the action. He had gone to the deepest part in the training area to vent, needing something to take out his frustration on.

While he had been shocked to hear about Acnologia, he wouldn't let this change his mind. How could he when a possible clue about his father finally appeared?

A glow around his feet brought his attention to the silver spell circle around him, before it shone for a few seconds and the cut on his arm disappeared. Natsu glanced back and as he expected, found Hope sitting on a tree stump.

"That's some story, huh?"

"You can say that again..." Natsu grunted. "...I'm not buying it."

"Hm?"

"Our magic was created to face dragons. I can fight him."

"You know the point isn't whether you can fight him or not."

Natsu didn't deny that but it still didn't sit right with him "I've...we've gotten stronger! Why are you sure it'll be bad just because they said so?"

Hope leaned against a wall "It's simple. Back then...when I thought I was all alone again, Endymion was there. He still supported me through everything. I trust him completely. That's not even mentioning how much Gildarts helped us. Give me one good reason I shouldn't count on them to guide us."

That, Natsu couldn't respond to. Because he knew it was completely true, this was just Natsu's own frustration re-emerging. He just didn't want to admit they could be right. Hope didn't say it but he knew the other reason was because Gildarts and Endymion had fought that beast and barely came out alive. They knew his power firsthand.

But still, this was his first clue about Igneel! He couldn't just leave it alone.

'I'm afraid this won't be easy, you've waited for this long. Just take it slowly.' Endymion paused. '...Though I intend to give Igneel a piece of my mind for doing this.'

"I think I'll hold you to that." Natsu grunted.

Hope half-smiled "So Natsu, seeing as we're here, can you help me out?"

"? With what?"

"Just this idea I've had from last time, I think you'll like it."

* * *

The next day came and Fairy tail was as busy as ever...

"You got a new key?"

"Yup!" Lucy chirped, showing a silver key with a fang on the sides before she put it with the others. "I stopped in the magic items shop over there. It's the key of the wolf spirit, her name's Lupe. The owner was so nice, he told me about a shop which should be getting some keys in a couple of weeks."

"Cool, so what's she like?" asked Levy.

"Well..."

'Sulking again, I see.'

Carla scowled at Endymion's voice "Be glad you don't have a physical form now." She looked around and saw that Hope was talking to Freed and Rebecca, seeming completely unaware of this.

Their eyes traveled to Happy then. The cat looked upset as Carla once again refused the fish he wanted to give her and merely glared.

"I have no intention of enduring that idiotic male cat's behavior so don't even think about asking me to do that."

'I'm saying it wouldn't hurt to be polite. Wendy is perfectly all right with the way things are, while I know you two are very different, I still think you should give everyone a chance. In Fairy tail, we stick together. Friends always support each other, they help you when you're down. You've had a lot to get used to, but try and adapt, it'll do wonders. You'll see.'

"You make it sound so easy..."

'Whoever said it was? Have you forgotten mine and Hope's tale? Compared to you, I was doing much worse off. I was truly angry and maybe even bitter, if the person who took my power wasn't Hope then...I wouldn't want to imagine it.' The phoenix admitted. 'It might seem strange to you, but he showed me the light within darkness. There were times when he reached his limit but that's when I stepped in. We learned to help each other. I never would've imagined that things would turn out this well, but I learned a lot from him and all our friends.'

"So you're saying it could be like that for me."

'Exactly. Try and adapt for your own sake as well as Wendy's. She's been worried about you, you know.'

Carla had a feeling there was more he wanted to say but he abstained. Which was just as well, she wasn't sure she would listen. "...I didn't do anything wrong."

As she walked away, Carla muttered something else Endymion couldn't make out, but he understood her thoughts clearly.

Happy didn't know who he was? What did she mean by that?

* * *

"A training area?" Gajeel seemed curious. He and Natsu having just finished a brawl. "So all that magic I saw this morning was you and Bird boy?"

"Yup! Hope came up with a totally great move. We almost nailed it." Natsu grinned.

Gildarts whistled "Judging by that burst I saw, it must be something. How about you show me the end result?"

"Sure..."

"I want in."

The two looked at Gajeel, whose eyes were on Natsu as he began to explain "I mean the training...if anything, just to see how much you screw up or even watch Titania kick your ass, Salamander."

"You wish!" Natsu snapped, annoyed. "You know what, you _should _come along next time. Just so I can rub it in your face when you see you're wrong!"

Gildarts chuckled, entirely amused as he took another drink.

* * *

"That happened with you guys too?" Gray cocked his head once Rebecca finished telling him about the job. "We ran into one of those things. Levy guessed there was something fishy about those attacks too but we can't make sense of it all."

"Us and everyone else you mean?"

"Yeah...so, you got interested in that pendant too Freed?"

"Hm?" The rune mage blinked, currently concentrated on his examination of Hope's pendant. "Ah yes, it's fascinating. There are some elaborate runes in the center...I can tell who ever made this was brilliant, so much thought went into the work. But it's mysterious...how do you actually use it, Hope?"

"Um, I'm not sure I actually used it yet."

Freed raised an eye "Elaborate."

"Well, it's just..." Hope remembered what Levy and Lucy helped him learn. "...it boosts magic strength and recovery ever since I found the shards. But that seems to be a stable effect, it's also not that strong. Maybe it's because the pendant's incomplete. I've only been able to draw on that boost before."

"I guess that makes sense..." Rebecca thought it over.

Freed nodded "It's strange. I've read about your pendant before." This made the three stare at him, not expecting that. "But that book never explained much about its uses, the writer seems to have come across it once but apparently he couldn't draw on much of its power. He did mention some magic that's related to protection but that was it. You make it seem simple in comparison."

Hope blinked "I do? It didn't...really seem that way." His eyes traveled to the pendant. "But I guess I never thought about it."

"Well if your excellent care for it all this time is anything to go by, the person who gave it to you must be very important."

"Yeah, I know you said you feel guilty because it was with you when that thief ended up damaging it but you really did keep it in good shape." Rebecca looked at him. He was a kid back then, there wasn't much he could have done. "Any chance you remembered something about how you came to get it?"

Hope shook his head. The thought had actually occurred to him more than once, it was just that he simply couldn't draw the slightest recollection. He just knew it was important, that belief just remained, maybe because of his promise...or even because of the person he gave that promise to.

Only who was it?

"Oi, Freed. What do you think about this job?" Bickslow called, waving a request.

"Let's have a look." The rune mage walked over.

Gray was about to speak, stopping when he saw Mira and Elfman getting ready to head out "Eh, you're leaving?"

"Yeah, it's time to visit the cathedral." The first said.

"Time for..."

"It's that anniversary," Hope cut him off quietly, mentally making a note to visit that place later.

"Oh..." Right, they made a habit of going to Lisanna's grave at that day each year.

* * *

Things took a turn for crazy a while later.

Wendy and Carla decided to go back to Fairy Hills, only to find a figure in dark clothes walking towards them. The figure stopped at the sight of them before removing the mask that covered his face.

"Jellal?" Carla blinked. "What're you doing here?"

"Is everything all right?" Wendy added.

"It's not what you think. Besides...I only took that name because I knew nothing about this land."

Wendy's eyes widened "Wait, but then..."

"You remember, don't you Wendy?" Mystogan asked.

"Y-yeah!" She began to smile as tears appeared in her eyes. "I tried to find you! I'm glad you're all right. But...why do you look so much like Jellal-san?"

"I...don't think I have the time to explain." He began. "You two need to get out of here."

"What?"

"What's going on?" Carla demanded.

"I can't stop this any longer. Fairy tail...no, maybe even all of Magnolia is in danger. You can't stay!"

"I won't leave everyone in trouble!" Wendy said at once. "I'll go warn them."

Carla's eyes widened but she quickly followed her friend, calling "Wait for me!"

If either of them had looked back, they would've seen Mystogan's sorrowful expression setting in.

But the guild disappeared just as they reached it. In a binding flash, even the entire town was gone.

"No..."

"What's going on?" Carla breathed, trying to digest this sight. Then a thought occurred to her, could it be...

"Wendy! Carla!"

Both girls started at the voice and found Natsu and Happy running over.

"I'm glad you're all right!" The second exclaimed.

"Me too! Do you know what happened?" Wendy wanted to know.

"No, I kind of thought you would..."

"There was this flash and next thing I know, we're out here." Natsu grunted.

Wendy told them about Mystogan's warning before adding "When we got back, everything just disappeared."

"So Mystogan knows about this? Let's find him!"

Happy and Wendy are about to agree but then Carla's voice cut them off "There's no point."

The three looked at the white cat before Happy asked her to clarify. She continued "He was likely taken by the anima, so we wouldn't be able to find him."

"Anima?" Natsu echoed. "Carla, you know why everyone disappeared?"

"Yes." She admitted, surprising them. "The town was taken through magic to another world." They stared at her but she never gave them a chance to question this. "It was taken to Edolas, the world where me and the male cat come from."

Happy's mouth fell "Wait, what? I've never been to another world!"

She looked at him "Our eggs were sent here for the sake of a mission for our home, Extalia."

"Carla, why is all this happening?" Wendy rarely doubted her friend's words but this was a little much of on top of all what was happening. "Why would people from that other world do this?"

"I don't..." Carla stopped when a gleam caught her eye and she looked up in time to see what looked like the anima appeared again.

But it wasn't the same. Seconds later, a beam of energy appeared and trapped the group of four, almost instantly pulling them up.

"What the heck?!" Natsu tried to reach Happy who was floating higher but the beam's power seemingly increased as its color intensified...

In a second, the four of them were gone.

* * *

_Well, that's the chapter done. _

_I know the ending seems strange. But basically here the army tried to increase the anima's power and range, which rendered it unstable. The beam was basically a result of the overflowing magic and the attempt to get rid of the problem. Hey, there's a lot of magic and power around, the result wasn't exactly going to be predictable you know?_

_So yeah, I realized I've been sticking to canon a lot and I'm trying not so bear with me. Please tell me if there's anything you like or even anything you don't like about this story.  
_

_Please Read and Review!_


	31. Chapter 31

It was mid-day in the town of Louen, with everything relatively calm and easy going.

A figure wearing a light brown cloak with a hood that only left his mouth visible made his way across a street before arriving at a park. He went to sit near the fountain that lay in the center of a place before staring up at the sky.

A while later, he was found by man in a dark blue suit and matching hat who looked exactly like Gajeel.

"I found you."

The figure started, standing in time to meet his eyes.

"...Been a while, huh?" The young man continued.

"What are you..."

"Save it, I heard the whole truth a week ago. You're really struck between a rock and a hard place, aren't you?"

All tension seemed flow out of the hooded figure as he sighed, lowering his head "Yeah..."

"You have to tough it out some more." Edo-Gajeel began.

"That's easy to say but..." The figure bit his lip. "...I wonder if things really are going to change."

The reporter noted how weary he was. "You know he's trying to work something out, right?"

"...I guess so..." The figure responded. "If...if I mess up now..."

"Yeah..." Edo-Gajeel frowned, knowing how his situation was.

"I'm tired but...waiting's all I can do, I guess."

Edo-Gajeel's face softened a bit "...Then you should go rest. It's been a long day."

Both knew that wasn't what he meant but the figure nodded and stood. Some rest would do him good after all.

"Say, Gajeel?"

"Hm?"

"...Thanks."

"Heh, sure thing."

The figure stopped on his way home once more, finding two cats passed out nearby. "Are those..."

After a moment of thought, he picked them up and quickened his pace to his destination.

* * *

Wendy looked at the forest she and Natsu had woken up in with pensively "We're still not getting anywhere. Natsu-san, have you ever seen this place before?"

"No, I wished you might have..." He admitted, sounding just as troubled.

"The air here tastes so different..." She mumbled. "...what's going on?"

"I don't know but for now let's keep looking for Happy and Carla. She wanted to tell us about it, right?" Natsu recalled.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"...ca, Rebecca..."

The girl forced her eyes open, seeing Hope watching her with a worried look. His expression changed into one of relief when he realized she was awake.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." She sat up. "...wha...where are we?"

"No idea," Hope frowned, he had woken up a little while ago to find themselves near the outskirts of a town. "All I'm sure of is that there was this flash and next thing I know, we're here."

Rebecca remembered that too...Whatever was going on, this was definitely a foreign area to them both. "Did you see anything that can help?"

Hope bit his lip "That's the thing...can you use magic?"

"Eh? Sure...wait, you're saying..."

"Yeah, it's kind of like what happened near Nirvana. I think Endymion can use that spell fine, he just can't show me anything."

'That's what it seems like.' The phoenix's voice concurred a second later. 'Rebecca, why don't you try?'

"All right..." The girl stiffened when she found that she really couldn't cast a spell. "...what's going on!?"

'Hard to say...I've never seen this place before.' Endymion paused. 'You two can't use magic and my own power is greatly weakened. I think the pendant protected us from whatever knocked the three of us out.'

Rebecca blinked "Wait, I know it works for Hope and by extension, you. But why me?"

'Well you were the one sitting closest to us then. The protection might have extended to you.' Endymion guessed. 'Why don't we go see what we can find?'

Hope and Rebecca nodded before going to the town nearby.

* * *

"This whole thing is nuts."

"Don't you think I know that?"

Gajeel had woken up to find himself near in a desert. He had been the one to find Mystogan, who told him what happened to Magnolia.

The town had been taken by the hyperspace magic known as Anima to this world Edolas. It was Earthland's parallel but one thing it lacked was magic. Which was why the king was using the anima to take magic. Apparently, this world had counterparts of people in Earthland, which was the reason Mystogan resembled Jellal.

After giving him a pill to let him use magic, the S-class mage had left and Gajeel continued his venture in the desert only to stop when he saw the building he now knew to be Edolas Fairy tail.

Even if he was forewarned, this was a total surprise.

Lucy was aggressive and sometimes violent. Oddly enough, so was Levy, who didn't seem to get along with Jet and Droy. Those two were also behaving differently, while Elfman was acting like a total wimp. Gray was dressed in so many clothes that it was ridiculous while Juvia was bolder and more confident. Cana was now dressed up in fancy clothes, and she actually turned down alcohol!

Even stranger, here Wendy was a grown up. He almost didn't recognize her. The guild was so different it was unsettling. Surprisingly enough, Mira seemed to be similar to her Earthland self and she was willing to listen and try to help Gajeel.

"But he is really different from that guy..." Edo-Levy pointed out.

"What, you guys know my Edo-self?" Gajeel questioned.

"Mmhm, he's a reporter." She informed. "Kind of a sleazebag but he did help us out a couple of times."

Gajeel raised an eye. Was it just him or were those people rather receptive to his story? If one of them had told Gajeel this story earlier, he might have believed them to be insane.

"Anyway," he looked at Edo-Mira. "Can you tell me where the nearest city is? Better see if any of the others are out or something." When she didn't reply, he added. "Oi, are you listening?"

Edo-Mira blinked "Ah, sorry, I was just thinking...you want directions right? Sure, the nearest place from here is..."

* * *

Natsu and Wendy had more or less picked up some of this information. The latter looked worried, they still haven't found their friends and they weren't even close to finding out why this happened.

"I can't believe this..." Natsu groused, a while ago, they realized that they can't use magic either. "...what the heck is going on?"

"I wish I knew. Why would people from another world come after our town?" Wendy frowned.

* * *

Likewise, Hope and Rebecca had stopped in the town to ask around and maybe see if anyone they know was around. Sadly, there wasn't but they kept going.

"You're not from around here, huh?" A merchant asked, raising an eye at the basic questions the two were asking.

"Erm, yeah, we kind of crashed in here after avoiding some monsters." Rebecca explained.

"Ah." He nodded. "Well, you got out of there safely, good for you."

The merchant's wife tilted her head a little, glancing at Hope who had arrived at the corner of the street. "Going for a little trip with the boyfriend, dear? He's a good looking lad."

Rebecca's face reddened "Wait, what? It's not like that! We're friends."

The woman seemed amused by this "Really? Well, I think you two look just darling together."

The merchant sighed, noticing Rebecca's increased embarrassment "Sorry about her. Don't take that seriously. She's been getting into romance novels a lot lately."

"R-right..."

"Hey, kid." Hope blinked as a boy around Elfman's height approached him. "You a part of Fairy tail or somethin'?"

The somewhat hostile tone confused Hope but he decided to speak "Um, is there something wrong with that?"

One of the merchants nearby spoke up "No way, man, the kid doesn't know anything about this area. He and his friend came from a far place, they were just asking stuff anyone would know."

"Oh..." The boy nodded. Hope took advantage of this to use his sleeve and obscure his guild mark. "...guess the marks just look similar. Ya might want to be careful with that, kiddo. I'm not the only one who might get the wrong idea."

"Right, thank you..." Hope tore apart a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around his guild mark, deep in thought. Fairy tail was a dark guild? Just what was going on here?

Rebecca arrived as he was about to question those statements, drawing his attention. Hope raised an eye "You okay, Rebecca? Your face is red."

"E-eh?" It was? Rebecca mentally shook herself. "It's nothing, let's keep going!"

"? All right..."

* * *

A while later...

Happy and Carla were currently in a small house, having woken up in a bed. They went into the second room and found the hooded boy sleeping on the couch near the window.

"You think he helped us?" Happy asked.

"I suppose so. We...what are you doing?" She hissed, seeing that he was near the boy.

"Well we can ask him what's going on, right?" Happy's paw was currently on the hood.

"Oh please, you just want to snoop around!" Carla said, getting a sheepish look that showed how curious Happy was. "Leave him alone, he's obviously keeping that hood up for a reason."

"But..."

"It's none of your business!"

Both of them started when the boy shifted in his place, sitting up moments later. "Oh, you're awake?"

"Yup, I'm Happy, she's Carla. Thanks for helping us out!"

"Sure, sure," he said dismissively before suppressing a yawn. "Wasn't like I could leave you there. But what's a pair of Exceeds doing all the way out here?"

Happy looked confused, while Carla's eyes widened as if realizing something. "We...ran into some trouble. Where are we?"

"This is Louen, one of the towns in Edolas."

Well, this confirmed her suspicions. Frowning, Carla went on "Did you see a girl with dark blue hair and a boy with pink hair and a scaly scarf around?"

The boy shook his head "Friends of yours?"

"Yeah, we got separated in this mess." Happy sat down. "What's your name?"

"Oh, it's Riley."

"So, it's just the three of us here? Do you know anyone who can help?"

"Hm, can't say that I do and even if..." Riley bit his lip. "...there's not much I can do about this."

They couldn't help but note the sadness in his tone as he added this, this elicited their curiosity but neither wanted to pry now. They had other problems in their minds.

Riley watched Carla pull Happy aside and talk for a bit and left them to it, heading to the other room. If his hood had been off, they would have seen the pensive look on his face then. When he came back, he heard the sound of a growling stomach, making him and Carla look at Happy, who gave a sheepish grin.

"Man, I guess I'm kind of hungry." He mumbled. "Riley, do you have any food?"

"Honestly..." Carla sighed.

Riley's lips twitched in amusement "Hold on, I think I can fix something up."

Happy gladly took the sandwiches, offering some to Carla who ate after a few moments. Riley remembered something he heard earlier "This is a bit of a long shot, there's supposedly some big event in Royal City. If your friends are around here, they could be on their way there."

"Well, that's better than nothing." Carla said after thinking it over.

Happy nodded "Thanks, we'll try this. Which way is Royal City?"

* * *

"Jeez, what's up with this place?!"

Natsu groused as he and Wendy made their way to Royal City, having overheard about the event taking place there. They decided to chance it, wishing that they would run into Happy and Carla or even any of their friends who had escaped the anima.

"Natsu-san, do you think this event has anything to do with what happened to us? I mean, this timing..." Wendy trailed off.

"Yeah, it's really fishy. This is our best shot though, we might at least find some clue about our friends there even if we don't find them."

She nodded, thinking it over. "Well..." A sound attracted her attention to the sky and her eyes widened. For a moment Wendy thought she was looking at one of their partners, but the figures soaring the sky were too different for the mix up. Each side seemed to be going on their own. It didn't make the sight any less surprising though. "...look at that!"

"Hm? Whoa!" Natsu's eyes widened at what he was sure were flying cats in the air. Two of them stopped and turned around, flying in the opposite direction while the latter merely went on. They were used to Happy and Carla but seeing more flying cats threw him for a loop.

Just one more oddity to add to this place.

* * *

_And we're done!_

_Man, Edolas is hard work with. Not helped by the fact that it's one of my least favorite arcs but I guess it's important, so what the heck. I hope I did a good job. I've gotten to the start of chapter 34 now, so the next chapter should be up soon. _

_About Riley, he is actually keeping the hood up for a good reason. One I'm going to explain in the next few chapters. Maybe number 36 or something...I've gotten the plan down, more or less, I just need to sort out the details.  
_

_Oh and for the record, this Edolas Fairy tail heard about Earthland even before Gajeel showed up. You're going to see some more of them when the Earthland group gets together._

_Please Read and Review! _


	32. Chapter 32

_Hi!_

_Edolas was one of the arcs that made me worry when I started working on this story and now I remember why. Plotting this has been annoying so yeah...sorry, if the chapters are bad but this is really the best I can do. I was really tempted to just skip the arc but then I came up with this plan so I thought, what the heck? _

_All righty, minor rant over, sorry. Here's chapter 32!_

* * *

"I see," a tall, muscled figure in a helmet and long cape along with trousers and boots mused as Riley finished telling him about his run in with Happy and Carla. This was Pantherlily, a captain of the army.

Riley never commented on it, but he had actually been able to pick up bits of the pair's talk, if only because Happy kept overreacting at first, making himself loud. "I think you could be right, they seem to have been brought by the anima after all. It fits with the timing from what I heard earlier."

"...So he's gone that far, huh?" Riley's tone was almost acidic.

"I'm afraid so." Pantherlily sighed. "So what do you want to do?"

"Most of the choices I make are irrelevant now, remember?" Riley never realized he snapped until he saw the latter's expression. "S-sorry...I didn't mean..."

But Pantherlily shook his head "No, you're right to be angry. If anything, _I'm _sorry...I can't see anyway to help you out of this situation."

"Well...I guess we'll have to play it by the ear. I'll see if there's anyway I can help out...for both of us."

"Wait, you can't! That'll..."

"Relax," Riley waved a hand. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'll be as discreet as ever..." His tone grew solemn. "...I'm sick of waiting, Lily. There has to be something I can do."

Understanding, the captain thanked him before promising to do the same on his end. A little while later, Pantherlily headed to the palace.

'I certainly wish things can change here, for everyone's sake...At least then, Riley would finally be free of his burden.'

* * *

Rebecca sat down on a stone step with a groan "No sign of the others anywhere."

Hope leaned against the staircase before looking towards the sky "This is all so strange. Those guys from before told me Fairy tail is a dark guild."

This made her swivel around to look at him "There's no way...!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking."

"Ugh, I swear nothing makes sense anymore..."

The three were startled by the sounds of battle coming from nearby. They got up the stairs to the roof of the old building and saw some men ganging up on someone Hope and Rebecca couldn't see.

"That's Ashley!"

"Yeah, get her!"

"We've done it at last!"

Endymion's eyes widened 'That's...'

Hope was about to question him only to be distracted by yells from the men, who were thrown away by none other than Capricorn.

"Capricorn-san!"

The spirit looked up "Well, this is a pleasant surprise."

Lucy stepped up from behind the building next to him, where she was fighting some of the attackers. "I haven't even done anything! Honestly..." Her scowl changed into a smile quickly when she saw Hope and Rebecca. "...hey, guys!"

* * *

The two groups quickly left the area after that, settling down when they deemed it safe before telling the other what they missed.

It turned out that Lucy had been saved from the anima by Holorogium. Then she met Mystogan, who gave her a rundown about what happened and Edolas. He also gave her pills that would allow them the use of magic, called x-balls.

"And that's about it," she concluded, giving Hope and Rebecca two pills which they proceeded to swallow.

'It's good to finally make sense of some of this mess.' Endymion commented. 'Then where's Mystogan, Lucy?'

"I have no idea." She sighed, recalling her failed attempt to find the man. "But really, your pendant is way more useful than I thought Hope, I never thought it would work like this."

"That makes two of us," Hope responded. "If we're all here, then some of our friends could have escaped."

'Right, for now, let's see if we can find any of them. Then we'll put our heads together and see what can be done about that magic.'

Lucy nodded "Sounds good, let's go!"

* * *

A while later...

"You!"

"Hah? Who're you?"

"Don't tell me you forgot! After that lousy article you made up, I lost a big deal thanks to you!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, bastard!"

"Watch it, weirdo. I'm this close to kicking your ass."

"Not if it I do it first! Take this."

"Che, Iron Dragon's Scales."

That was when Natsu and Wendy arrived, having been attempting to follow Gajeel's scent for the past ten minutes.

"Gajeel!"

The iron dragon slayer turned his head "Oh, so you made it out too?"

Wendy glanced at the man who had been yelling Gajeel, who had clearly lost his nerve because he was running away. "Um, what's going on?"

"Che, don't mind that idiot. He just thought I'm the Gajeel of this world."

"What?"

He blinked, noticing their baffled expressions. "Hold up, you don't know?"

"Know what? We were dragged in here all of a sudden and we can't make sense of any of this." Wendy said with a sigh.

"Oh. Well in that case, let's walk and talk."

* * *

"Fairy tail is a dark guild?! In what world?"

"This one, apparently."

Gajeel's dry remark made Natsu stiffen, okay he was still taking in all the facts but still..."With the way those guys were acting, something's up though. Can't say what."

"Well then, let's go find out!" Natsu said at once. "It's nearby, right?"

"We should talk to them," Wendy piped up. "I'm getting the feeling that we're starting to attract attention. Did they tell you anything that could help us now?"

"Nah but then I didn't exactly ask. That's worth a shot." Gajeel looked around, frowning pensively.

"What, you forgot where it is?"

"I'm not you. The other shrimp was talking about some teleport engine or something, they use it to avoid their enemies. I heard something just a while after I left...she's been having trouble with it so I doubt they made it far."

"All right, then let's check where you last saw them," Natsu suggested.

* * *

If what happened to them was strange, this really took the cake.

Carla looked around the Royal City plaza with a frown marring her features. After they figured out that they couldn't use magic, Happy had thought fast and helped her hitch a ride on the roof of a carriage.

It turned out that Riley was right about one thing, there was an event planned tomorrow. King Faust was to address the populace and he was said to have a surprise in the wait.

But this wasn't what threw her off.

It was the people. Somehow, the two of them scared the people away, merely by being there it seemed.

Having had enough of the stares, Happy beat her to the punch and stopped a woman to question their odd behavior.

According to her, people were gathering around tomorrow to see what would happen. It seemed King Faust rarely addressed people nowadays, he was busy working out measures to save their world. This definitely piqued their interest, though the woman didn't know enough about the measures, she explained how magic was dwindling in Edolas and the King's intention to rectify that.

Carla was just wondering why the woman treated them so...reverently. It wasn't just her, plenty of the people were bowing to them.

"This world is really weird." Happy mumbled as the woman left.

Carla couldn't have said it better herself.

"Say, Carla?" The white cat looked at her companion. "...Just to see if I understand, we're called Exceeds. The two of us were actually born here. But the people from our birthplace sent us to Earthland on some mission..."

"Right."

"...I don't get it. How come everyone except Riley is acting like this?"

"I've been wondering about that myself." Carla admitted as they continued walking. "Well, I suppose we don't have a choice but to wait now."

"Yeah, I guess so...I hope Natsu and Wendy come soon." Happy sighed. "But wait, how do you know all this stuff anyway, Carla?"

She blinked "Ah...I never did get around to explaining, did I? I was born with the power of future sight. It let me see some visions of this place so I put the facts together."

"That's amazing."

"Hardly, I'm barely figuring things out. I don't even know what this mission is." She reminded him.

"Hey, it's a start! We'll have to figure things out as we go along."

* * *

"Diamond Strike!"

Rebecca exhaled as the lance impaled the giant lizard "Have I mentioned how glad I am that we can use magic now? You really came through, Lucy."

"Ah, don't mention it. Still, we should be careful not to overdo it," the celestial mage looked at the sandy hills ahead. The group of four had been going through the desert for a while now, heading to the next town as they looked for their friends.

Hope re-joined them, having been separated in the earlier fight. "Hey, girls, look who we found."

Lucy perked up at the figure next to their friend "Natsu!"

The pink haired teen grinned back "Hey, I've been looking for you!"

* * *

Wendy happily greeted the new arrivals, quickly asking about their welfare. The three assured her that they were all right, stopping as they took a look at Edolas Fairy tail.

"What, so those are the rest from that other world?"

The question was voiced by Edo-Lucy, who was currently eyeing her counterpart, who in turn had stepped back in surprise at the sight of her.

"Erm, so you're the...other me?" She asked.

"That's right. Name's Lucy Ashley."

"Ashley?" Lucy remembered the soldiers. 'Ohh, so that's why...'

Rebecca cocked her head, noticing the beautiful dark blue haired woman sitting next to what she realized was her counterpart. Her edolas self had her hair styled in a bob in a brown and white dress and matching boots "I recognize plenty of people but you're a new face."

The woman gave her an amused look as Gajeel snickered "Yeah, that's actually the kid."

"Ki...as in Wendy?!"

The girl in question confirmed that, looking a little embarrassed herself. "We were surprised too but he's right."

"Well, you..." Edo-Wendy paused as they walked in, because she noticed one of the people who had been hidden from view before "...wait a second, Chris?!"

Hope blinked confusedly back, wondering why everyone was staring at him like they had seen a ghost.

Edo-Rebecca frowned "No...you're the Chris from Earthland."

Hope's expression darkened "...My name's Hope. What happened to your friend?"

"He's been missing for over a year now." Edo-Lucy responded, giving him an odd look. "But why're you..."

"I have my reasons." He cut in. This was one subject he definitely didn't want to touch now. "I'm sorry but I'd rather keep those to myself. If you don't mind, we'd like you to tell us a few things."

Edo-Mira looked like she was thinking along the same lines as Edo-Lucy but she decided to go along with this "...All right, what do you need to know?"

Gajeel decided to start "I've been wondering why you're staying all the way out here but it's because Fairy tail's a dark guild here, huh?"

Edo-Levy snorted "Don't get me started on that. It's only because the King decreed that all guilds must be disbanded so he can save as much magic as possible. We didn't want to go for it so we're deemed criminals." At the surprised looks that came her way, she sighed. "Oh yeah, I guess some of you wouldn't know. Here magic is really low, I guess he decided that the guilds are an additional risk to that problem so he wants to save as much as possible."

"Which led to the anima." Lucy frowned.

"Apparently." She nodded. "I guess we've...seen enough to believe this. Somehow King Faust must have found about your world, so he's using anima to get magic to this side. It's a temporary solution but from the rumors hanging around, he's worked out a plan to fix that."

"Wait, so then our friends are with the royal army?"

"Sure seems so. We heard that anima turns what it absorbs into lacrima." Edo-Jet informed.

"Which means your friends are most likely in Royal City." Edo-Wendy added.

Natsu stood "All right, so where's this city exactly?"

Her eyes widened "Wait, you mean you're going to..."

"You're actually going to face them?" Edo-Elfman finished for her.

"Of course we are! Those are our comrades, not to mention all the people of Magnolia trapped in this mess. Like hell we're going to leave them like this."

"Exactly." Hope agreed. "That's just not an option."

"Guess we really in a different world, the Fairy tail we know would never take this quietly." Rebecca remarked.

"Oi, you don't know what you're talking about." Edo-Droy objected. "You're crazy! We don't have a chance against the army. What can the six of you do alone?"

"A hell of a lot more than you." Gajeel grunted. "Now is someone going to tell where that place is or not?"

Lucy and Wendy were quiet, but they didn't have to say a thing. Their determined expressions showed that they completely agreed with their friends.

Edo-Cana sighed and gave them the directions, watching the group prepare to leave.

Rebecca stopped at the door, casting her counterpart an upset look "You know, I just can't believe you. One thing I learned way back was to support my friends, always. Chris could be in big trouble but you won't even try to help him. It's bad enough that you're taking this defeatist attitude but giving up on one of your friends is just wrong. Were you always this much of a coward?"

"Rebecca." Hope spoke up, knowing the girl wanted to say more. He agreed with her to an extent but he still thought this was harsh. "I understand how you feel but their circumstances are different, they must have their own reasons for this."

Edo-Rebecca flinched, her earthland self sounded a lot like Chris just then. But Hope's gentle tone made her feel even worse. That didn't just affect her either, going by the uncomfortable looks some of her friends had. Only could she do anything about this?

"Still...I don't think you should give up on Chris." Hope continued.

"Oh, so we're just supposed to cross our fingers and wish for the best?" Edo-Jet sneered.

"No, it's just that...plenty of things in our world are opposites, right?"

Edo-Lucy blinked, he did have a point. The group of six was very different from their edolas selves. For instance, Edo-Rebecca tends to avoid confrontation and can be a bit flaky. But the other one was a strong, determined girl. She didn't get one thing though.

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Oh, that's easy...See in our world, Chris died years ago."

* * *

He left without giving any more explanation, with Rebecca quickly following him.

"Hope..."

The boy didn't look at Rebecca "...You're wondering about what I said? That's all true. I think I told you why before."

The girl's eyes widened, realizing that he actually did. She just hadn't thought about it. (_AN: To clear any confusion up, this is a reference to their talk in Chapter 19. I'm going to touch this subject again next chapter)_

"Ah, man. Hope, Endymion, you guys just missed her." Natsu remarked, at the boy's quizzical look, he explained. "I saw Lisanna!"

"Really?" Hope smiled a bit at the mention of their old friend. "Actually, I don't think she was there."

"Uh-huh, she's about the same as the one we know. I don't know what happened. It's like she up and vanished..."

"I see..." Even if it was the Lisanna of a different world, Hope was glad to know she was doing well.

"Oi, heads up." The boys looked at Gajeel, who had been leading the group in time to see a giant frog monster and another blue raptor.

"Easy peasy, Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

"True enough. Iron Dragon's Roar!"

* * *

_And that's a wrap!_

_Yeah, I'm not sure where to end the chapter otherwise. But quite a load of information I unveiled, eh? Don't worry, unlike some of the secrets I kept, I'm going to be elaborating on the way things are in Edolas pretty soon. But if you have any question or if you think I missed anything. This arc wasn't easy to work with so there's a chance I messed up. I hope I did all right though._

_Anyway, Please Read and Review!_


	33. Chapter 33

_Hi!_

_Seeing as I'm practically done planning the arc, I figured I should post this. I hope I've done the canon story justice. I know the chapters are slow and short, but things really get going next chapter. Here we go!_

* * *

The group of seven had little problems dealing with the monsters along the way and they made it to the nearest town by evening. Edo-Cana had also given some money just in case so they planned to use it to stay in an inn before continuing to Royal City next morning.

It was then that they were found by Edo-Lucy and Edo-Rebecca after getting a room.

Lucy blinked "What are you two doing here?"

"Looking for you," her counterpart replied. "You guys sure move fast, you even got settled down."

"So why'd you come all this way? I thought we were crazy." Gajeel remarked from his seat.

"Yeah, but then this entire thing is..." Edo-Lucy exhaled. "But...I'm thinking you might be right too."

"Same here. Maybe we could guide you." Edo-Rebecca looked at her other self. "What you said hurt but it was true. I hate how we just gave up on Chris even after what he did, so we want to see what we can find about him and settle this issue."

"Sorry, that was harsh." Rebecca looked sheepish.

"Nah, I think it's something I needed to hear so that's all right."

"What do you mean what Chris did? What happened?" Natsu asked curiously.

Edo-Lucy frowned at the memory that came back to her "...Back when the King started to crack down on the guilds, some of them bowed down while others were taken down by the Fairy Hunter. She came after us next with her troops. Levy was still tuning up the teleporter, so it wasn't exactly easy to work with. That day...someone had to turn on the emergency power supply..."

His eyes widened "You mean..."

"Yeah," she ground out. "When we were all trying to figure out what to do, Chris just went for it. The last time we saw him was when the Fairy Hunter came after him."

Silence reigned after that story. Wendy thought it was just as well, what could they say? She glanced at Hope, who was watching the girls with concern. The sky dragon slayer wasn't sure what Chris was like but this was one similarity the boys shared, she could definitely see Hope doing something like that for them.

"But that's why, I want to figure this out." Edo-Rebecca spoke up. "I don't want to have any regrets."

* * *

"Wait, the other Juvia's the one with the crush on the other Gray?"

Lucy blinked "Yeah, why?"

"Well...it's kinda the opposite here." Edo-Rebecca seemed amused. "Our Gray's generally all right, but he acts like a total dork around her."

"That's because he _is _a dork." Edo-Lucy added.

Natsu laughed "Oh god, I so want to see Gray's reaction later!"

"This is totally the rain woman's dream world." Gajeel smirked. "So, what's your Bird boy like anyway?"

Edo-Lucy raised an eye "Do you ever call any of your guild mates by name?"

"He doesn't, we're used to it," Rebecca sighed.

"Come to think of it, we haven't see this world's Natsu-san in the guild." Wendy recalled.

"Ah, that...well, the Natsu we know is totally different."

"Like you wouldn't believe." Edo-Rebecca added before glancing at Hope. "Come to think of it, you're not like Chris either. For one thing, you don't want to annoy him. He has some temper..."

"Oh then that's one big difference." Natsu remarked.

"Uh-huh, I think we all agree. Hope's got the patience of a saint." Lucy nodded.

The boy in question looked like he didn't know what say to that but Edo-Rebecca went on before he could think of anything "Well, he's a bit of a lazy klutz but he can really come through when it matters. Totally loyal and reliable."

"Yeah, sadly, that's a lot more than I can say for a bunch of the guys we know." Edo-Lucy piped up. "Okay, so this stuff can wait. What are you going to do about tomorrow?"

"Well, we were thinking on the way here..." Hope glanced at his friends before continued. "...since we don't know anything for sure, we'll need to see things for ourselves. Then if our suspicions turn out true, we'll act. Lucy's got a way to help with the lacrima."

"Yup, let's just leave that to Gemini." Lucy patted her key holder.

Edo-Rebecca cocked her head "So what happens if that fails?"

"Well, I'm not really sure..."

Edo-Lucy gave an unimpressed look "She's always been a worrywart."

"I am not! It's a reasonable question!"

"That's what you say every single time. You're a total pessimist."

"This coming from the biggest sadist I know!" This was followed by a yelp as Edo-Lucy pulled her down by the collar and smirked.

"I'll ignore that comment seeing as you're finally learning to verbalize your feelings, there you go!"

"Hey, stop that!" Edo-Rebecca groaned as the older girl gave her a noogie.

Wendy giggled at the exchange while the rest watched, similarly amused.

Natsu's stomach growled "Have we got anything to eat? I'm starved..."

* * *

A while later, everyone had settled down and gone to sleep.

Rebecca woke up and headed to get a drink of water. She was careful not to wake her sleeping comrades up, but she almost stumbled near a couch and grabbed it at the last second before she fell.

The girl let out a relieved sigh before standing. Then her eyes fell on Hope, who was sleeping on that couch.

'You're thinking about what he said, right?'

Rebecca blinked at Endymion's voice before sighing again and whispering "Is it that obvious?"

She knew what he talking about too. Her mind kept drifting back to what Hope told the members of Edolas Fairy tail. "...I just don't get it, Endymion. It just seems like saying that Earthland Chris died is going too far."

'That's because you don't know his reasons.' The phoenix pointed out. 'Hope really does believe that. A lot has happened in the past...Hope was hurt far more than you think.' His eyes narrowed as he remembered the first days after they were on their own. That time left Hope broken, he had practically lost the will to live. Endymion still hadn't been able to let go of his resentment and other darker feelings, so he couldn't have helped the boy even if he wanted to. Hope had reached out to him, partly out of fear, because he didn't want to be alone again. The phoenix still regretted that it took him as long as he did to trust Hope. Perhaps he would've been able to help him deal with those memories better, instead his reluctance and withdrawal merely caused more damage. Hope had managed to find the strength to carry on, he still put others before himself. That was because of his own kind nature but unfortunately it also had something to do with the past. He truly came to believe that he shouldn't have survived, Hope couldn't see his life's worth. The fact that this was caused by people Hope should've been able to count on infuriated him to no end.

Endymion was eternally grateful for the fact that he and the rest of Fairy tail had managed to change that much.

Shaking the thought off, he added 'Well, I could care less about what those traitors do. But Hope had bonds with them...it was bound to hurt.'

Rebecca was about to question this new piece of information but something about Endymion's tone told her that he didn't actually mean to bring this up. Then something occurred to her "Hold on, what about you?"

'Don't waste your concern over me. I'm part of the reason behind Hope's troubles.' Hope would be upset if he heard this but Endymion believed it to be true. 'Don't get me wrong, I'll never regret befriending him. But perhaps he would've been better off if we hadn't met.'

"I'm pretty sure Hope doesn't believe that."

She was right, and he knew it. Endymion had lost track of how many times Hope had asked him not to blame himself, but he couldn't help the feeling.

Deciding to get the full story later, Rebecca went on to ask "I've been wondering...how did you feel about the whole White Paladin thing?"

'Honestly? Shocked.' Endymion admitted. 'I never expected Hope to do what he did then. If the choice had been mine, I wouldn't have gone that far. But now I know he followed his heart, and it took him the right way. I'm proud and more than pleased with the person he is now, and I'll definitely keep supporting him.'

Rebecca smiled "Well, if you're on the case than I say we're good. I'll be more than happy to help you guys out. Just say the word."

* * *

The next day...

Riley arrived at Royal City's plaza in time to find a good amount of people gathering around something he couldn't see from where he stood. But on a closer note, it looked like an object covered by a huge cloth.

"What in the world...?"

* * *

After learning that their new friends had headed off to wrap up their plans, the earthland group had arrived at the plaza in time to hear the beginning of King Faust's speech.

They couldn't help but stare in horror as the object in the center, which confirmed everything they heard.

It was a big lacrima. Faust proudly declared that this would be what would save Edolas. Natsu almost lost it when the man smashed his staff against the item and would have attacked the man had Lucy not stopped him. The rest remained quiet, but were clearly just as upset as the two of them.

Gajeel snarled "Bastard..."

* * *

Riley didn't know it, but he shared their sentiment.

He felt nothing but disgust as he listened to the crowd cheering for Faust.

_'All those people need to die so Edolas can have magic? Assuming that the king doesn't decide to keep it for himself.' _He thought, scowling.

After everything he had seen, that wouldn't surprise him one bit.

He was about to leave the city when noise brought his eyes to the plaza. Riley stiffened when he saw soldiers dragging two figures away, then knowing what to do.

He made it to the scene in time to see a couple of soldiers preparing to sneak up on the group with two bottles in hand. Normally, this would've seemed odd. But Riley knew enough about the army to be sure that whatever those bottles would only cause trouble.

Grabbing a rock, the boy quickly struck one on the neck before tossing it at the other one's head. The startled soldier was shaken with the impact on his helmet, before his comrade fell to the ground.

"W-what the...!? Who's there?"

Riley was already behind him then. Having taken one of the bottles, he proceeded to pour it over the man and watched as the liquid caused an watery net that knocked the soldier out.

Rebecca, who had been the nearest to the scene, noticed Riley first "Who are you?"

Riley frowned when he noticed the soldiers coming "No time, come with me."

* * *

"You do realize we could've just beat them up and made them tell us where Salamander and the kid were, right?"

This was Gajeel's grumpily delivered question as Riley took them to the room he had taken at an inn.

"Maybe, but that will just complicate things..."

"I know they could've gotten reinforcements," Gajeel cut in with an annoyed look. "My point still stands."

"I never said that." Riley's words elicited confusion from them all. "From what I hear you guys are pretty tough, that's not the problem. Think, what could really make things worse now?"

Everyone stopped to consider the question. Hope's eyes widened moments later as the answer hit him "Faust could hide the lacrima."

"Got it in one." Riley nodded. "He already knows about your world so there's a high chance he knows what you're after. All he needs is to stall and but some time. He's willing to pull out all the stops to ensure his precious plan works."

"Yeah, that's a good point." Lucy frowned. "You said you know about us, Riley. How?"

"Same way you know about Edolas, I'm guessing."

She blinked "You're helping Mystogan."

"More or less, he's not making it easy." Riley exhaled. "But yeah, that's why I know a bunch of stuff about you. He said he's trying to close the anima from Earthland so I've been keeping tabs on the royal army."

"So it's that strong?" Rebecca inquired, thinking of Edolas Fairy tail and their reactions earlier.

"I guess...you guys probably won't have any problems with the infantry, it's the captains who are the real threat."

"...Who are you really?" Rebecca asked.

"That's not important." Riley said at once.

"The hell it isn't. You really expect us to trust a guy who won't even show his face after all that happened?" Gajeel grunted.

"Hold on, he's been helping us, remember?" Lucy pointed out.

"Yeah, he could've just let us fight the soldiers if he was on their side." Hope added.

Riley felt gratitude well up towards the two of them for the defense but he pressed on "...I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

Hope looked at him, knowing that he wasn't the only one who noted the sad and weary tone "...Does this have anything to do with why you're spying?"

Riley's lips twitched into a little smirk "...Yeah, everything actually. Look I never said to trust me, I just can't stand the state of things now. Sure, eternal magic sounds good but the idea of sacrificing people for that makes me sick. Besides..."

"What?" Gajeel prompted.

The hooded boy shook his head, his tone becoming brusque again as he continued "Well, I still want to help. Mystogan's wish is to change the way things are now and I want to make sure that happens. For the record, I can't stand the army. I don't agree with what they and the king are doing at all. Now are you going to accept my help or not?"

"All right," Lucy answered after sparing their friends a look. "Tell us what you know about the situation."

* * *

Carla thought things would improve after finding their partners. But that's when it all went got worse.

As it turned out, Riley's guess was correct. Natsu and Wendy had come to Royal City. But as she and Happy tried to approach them, they were found by a bunch of Exceeds. The leader of the group, Nichiya, praised them for their work and success with their mission.

Carla hadn't known what to think. The mission was the one part she couldn't really understand but she really thought she was defying it by trying to help their comrades.

But Nichiya had told them the truth, their mission was exterminating the dragon slayers!

Happy had denied that at once, completely unwilling to believe him. But Nichiya and the newly arrived Nadi insisted that the dragon slayers were a veritable treat to Extalia. So they had sent a hundred eggs to Earthland for that mission. It may not have gone down as intended but they decided that the two had done what they could and fulfilled the purpose by helping them find Natsu and Wendy.

Which meant that the exceeds and the royal army had used the two of them to get their partners.

The exceeds had been the only reason they couldn't even try to get to their partners to begin with and now they knew why.

Carla was in tears at this point, she really believed she was defying them. That she could protect Wendy but was she really fooling herself like Nadi said?

Happy glowered at Nadi and Nichiya "I don't know what you're on about! Natsu and Wendy are our friends, we'd never hurt them!"

"Like I said, the mission went down unexpectedly but you still did it. Now you're home, you should enjoy yourselves." Nadi said as the soldiers nudged the blue and white Exceeds forward. "I'll take you to meet our great queen, Shagotte. Her majesty had the power to see the future, she must have known you'd succeed. I'm sure she'll be pleased to hear the news."

Happy's anger didn't fade at all, he touched Carla's shoulder and whispered "Get ready, we're going to get away and find our friends at the first shot we get."

* * *

"Even through all this, we never found Happy and Carla..." Rebecca crossed her arms.

Riley tilted his head "You didn't?" The group looked at him. "I told them you might come by Royal City with this event going on so Happy asked for directions...they should've made it by now."

"We haven't seen them at all." The girl responded, looking more worried. "Does this mean they were captured too?"

"Hmm...I doubt it." Riley admitted. "See, Exceeds are respected and even feared by plenty of people in these parts. Even if the army did find them, the most they'd do is welcome them and maybe take them to Extalia. How did those two get captured anyway?"

"Che, the people were so excited after the old bastard revealed that lacrima that we practically had a riot over there. We got separated and I guess the soldiers might have surrounded them or something in all the mess." Gajeel grunted. "One thing I don't get, Bird boy, couldn't you just freeze them?"

"I'm not sure how well that would work here. Besides, by the time I got there, they were already gone." Hope replied, frowning. He supposed it might have been the severe lack of magic here but using spells here felt strange. Besides, freezing them would've affected Natsu and Wendy, seeing as Hope had no idea how to pick targets for that spell now. "Riley, do you know a way we can deal with the lacrima?"

"Sure, Gajeel can do it." Riley then began to explain. "Dragon slayer magic is different than other types of magic here. Remember how he, Natsu and Wendy weren't affected by the anima?"

Lucy's eyes widened in realization. "You're right! The three of us had help to get away but the dragon slayers didn't have any problems. So what, he just has to hit the lacrima?"

"That's the idea. It should reverse the transformation."

"Okay, so first we need to get to the lacrima in the plaza before we find a way to the palace to get Natsu and Wendy. Then find the rest of the lacrima." Rebecca stated.

"I can get you into the palace." Riley informed. "But you're right, the best thing we can do now is work out a way to get to this lacrima first...only I'm not sure how with the increased security."

"So we might have to force our way through after all?" Gajeel questioned, watching them all stop to think this over.

Hope perked up a little while later "...Actually, I know a way that could help." Everyone looked at him and he smiled.

* * *

Everything seems to have calmed down at the plaza. First, the mess started when the people grew amazed with the king's 'success'. Then the criminal Natsu Dragion approaching the lacrima with an accomplice. Following the earlier warnings they had received about interference, they didn't hesitate to lead the two to a trap and apprehended them.

Now they were ordered to guard the area and ensure no further trouble ensued.

Seconds later, a sharp cry startled them. Presuming it to be some sort of monster, they tried to look for the source but it seemed to come from all directions. The cry resounded again, this time closer.

This served to scare some people into leaving. The soldiers braced themselves for trouble, only to be surprised when a sandstorm appears. Then two big silhouettes appeared in the midst of the area. The soldiers froze, presuming them to be behind the storm.

They lost all semblance of courage when both creatures charged at them.

Moments later as the plaza became empty, the sandstorm dissipated. Then Scorpio stepped out from behind a building, grinning as the group came out. The spirit looked at Endymion, who was standing next to a rock wyvern Rebecca had created to help the scare.

"Nice work. It worked like a charm."

Riley took a moment to look at Endymion "So you're the friend Hope was talking about..."

The phoenix inclined his head. Then Riley saw the amber guild mark on his right wing "Yes I am. There's...just a few special circumstances with me."

Rebecca walked over "Endymion's one of us."

"Yeah, I got that. Don't worry...I know what special circumstances feel like." Riley responded, looking down for a moment.

Gajeel let out a breath "Well here goes...Iron Dragon's Roar!"

He stopped moments later as the lacrima began to glow, blinding them with the strong light.

The lacrima vanished and standing in its place were Erza and Gray.

"It worked!" Rebecca grinned.

"Wha..." Gray stood. "...you guys? What's going on?"

"We'll tell you on the way, hop on." Endymion bent to let them get on his back.

* * *

At the palace...

A short man with gray hair was looking up some papers with a grin. "Oho, those children really seem so interesting...I can't wait to take some tests, I've been raring to see what makes earthland mages so different."

"All right, enough of that now." A man with orange hair and brown eyes was near his room's door. "Byro, the king's waiting, we're getting close to the second phase of the plan."

"I know, I know." The man sounds exasperated. "I told you, boy, you can't rush genius."

"Sure, whatever you say. Now come on, we haven't got all day."

"Oh very well..."

The man, whose name was Cameron, let out an irritated sigh "...I'll never get used to dealing with this guy."

"I don't think you're the only one who feels that way." A new voice said.

Cameron blinked and turned his head "Oh, Erza." He acknowledged the woman who had just come down the stairs.

That was the Erza of this world, Erza Knightwalker, also known as the Fairy Hunter.

She fell in step with him as he asked "So this really is about beginning the next phase?"

"Who knows." Edo-Erza shrugged. "His majesty mentioned coming across something that would accelerate the plan."

"Really now..."

She gave him a look "Cameron, not this again..."

Cameron sighed "Look, I told you before...I get that we need to do something about this magic problem. This way just doesn't sit right with me."

"And _I _told _you_, this is essential to save our home. If sacrifices must be made then so be it. We're supposed to follow the king's wishes."

"I know," he said shortly. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Fair point but you need to focus." Edo-Erza admonished. "It's like his majesty says, sacrifice must be made for the greater good. Our cause is just."

"...Yeah, there's no other choice. I've already decided to fight for it. Even if I can't get rid of my doubts." Cameron said at last.

Edo-Erza gave him a searching look "Good, I don't see anything wrong with that mindset. Now let's go."

* * *

Following Riley's instructions, Endymion took them to a particularly thick grove in a forest southwest of Royal City. During that time, Gray and Erza were brought up to speed by their friends.

"This is some mess..." The ice mage remarked after they took their x-balls.

"We're ready to go when you are. The army won't get away with this." Erza declared.

"I'm worried about our odds, but I'll do my best to help." Lucy assured.

Rebecca nodded "That's the way, Lucy. I'm good to go. No use worrying about details now, let's go for it!"

"Yeah, it seems overwhelming but we can do this. We have to work together and give it our all, we can work things out." Hope smiled.

Gray smacked his fist on his open palm "Got that right! They won't know what hit 'em. It's time we pull off a prison break."

'Well, we're ready.' Endymion added.

Gajeel smirked and turned to Riley, who was watching them with a smile "You heard them. Time to go."

Riley nodded "We're not too far from the entrance, come on."

* * *

_Well, that's everything for now!_

_So how is the arc so far?  
_

_Next chapter is when the action really gets underway as they break into the castle and face the army head on. If you have any question or if there's anything I missed, let me know!  
_

_Oh, crud, I almost forgot! There's something I think I should point out about this story...mostly because of the summary. _

_What happened to the dragons here is...well, different. It's hard to explain because my plot with them majorly involves two of my OCs whose roles come in way later. Ah...looking back, actually they're both mentioned briefly but I digress. The point is, the dragons are alive. I'm sorry if anyone doesn't like this but what happened to them in the Tartarus arc is awful. I mean come on, they finally show up and then look what happens. Well, I haven't actually gotten to that arc in planning this story (I wish I did) but this part is definitely not changing. Sorry, I meant to explain but I kept forgetting.  
_

_With that out of the way, thanks to everyone who's read this story. _

_Please Read and Review!_


	34. Chapter 34

_Hi!_

_I more or less ignored the original plot for this arc and I intended on using certain parts but then I saw the video about Happy's parents on YouTube and it was so good. I just had to add this part, I like Marl and Lucky._

_Well, with that little note, here's the new chapter!_

* * *

Happy kept good on his word and led Carla as they managed to escape from Extalia. The exceeds considers them Fallen for failing their mission but neither cared, all they wanted to do was find their friends.

They got away from the soldiers and escaped to a nearby floating island, which was when Lucky found them.

Surprisingly enough, the white exceed didn't bother asking too many questions and he was quick in telling them to come along to his house. This was an invitation that couldn't have come at a better time so they quickly took him up on it.

His wife Marl was very friendly and she welcomed them both. The couple didn't care that Happy and Carla were escapees from Extalia but Marl merely remarked that they didn't leave by the country's rules anyway.

A tired Happy exhaled, holding on to the rake. He had decided to help Lucky plow the field for their generosity. He just didn't think it would be so hard!

"Che, that all you got?"

"Yeah, well..." Happy's jaw dropped as he saw that Lucky had already taken care of a great amount of the field. "...no way!"

Lucky looked smug, clearly enjoying the reaction.

"You're amazing, Mr.!"

"This is simple for a man."

Happy instantly thought of Elfman, but before he could comment Lucky continued "Well, don't just gawk at it. Keep going!"

"...He was just gawking at it a second ago, or did he forget?" Happy mumbled.

Then he regretted saying it as this seemed to get Lucky more aggravated "I can hear you! I said keep going!"

"Aye!" Happy replied, freaked out. At that moment the farmer scared him as much as Erza at her worst.

Marl watched this with a smile, greatly amused "They're certainly fired up."

She turned her head and saw Carla sitting nearby. "You know, you haven't smiled once ever since you came here."

"...I'm not in much of a mood to smile." She replied quietly, her mind too full of recent events. The white exceed wondered how Happy handled things the way he did. Carla's mind was still full of what they learned in Extalia but Happy didn't let it bother him for long. She suddenly found herself remembering what happened just before they made it out of Extalia.

* * *

**Nadi and Nichiya had found them in their attempt to escape...**

**"I couldn't believe my ears but it's true..." The first wheezed.**

**"You truly intend to go against Extalia? You'll become Fallen! Those pathetic humans aren't worth it!" Nichiya added. **

**Happy glared "Shut up! Don't you dare call them that! But yeah, we're definitely leaving." His grip around Carla's paw tightened. "For the record, we're not your puppets, you got that? We're...MAGES OF FAIRY TAIL!"**

**He screamed the last part, taking the three listeners aback. But Happy didn't stop there, he continued leading Carla away and jumped onto the nearest floating island...**

* * *

"You're struggling with something, right?" Marl didn't wait for an answer since it was more of a rhetorical question. "I think it's important to smile in times like this."

"If only it were that easy..."

"True...I know what you mean."

Happy wiped off the sweat from his forehead before continuing to clean the roof. "I'm glad he's letting us hide but he's working me too hard..."

"Well, _sorry _for that!"

The blue exceed jumped at Lucky's cry, surprised. "Well, don't just stand there. Get going!"

"A-aye...it figures that he heard me..." Happy sighed. "...I wonder if Natsu and the others are okay..."

* * *

The entrance to the palace was beyond the grove, a secret forgotten tunnel that was obscured by rocks.

"So you really don't know anything about him?" Erza clarified.

"No, he's Mystogan's friend though for some reason he's adamant about keeping his identity a secret." Lucy remarked.

Gray crossed his arms "...That's a little fishy. So we know he's not going to sell us out or anything right?"

'Honestly, are you really going to question the only willing help we've had so far?' Endymion asked, sounding irritated.

"Yeah, Riley hasn't done anything to deserve this suspicion. He must have his reasons for not telling us a thing about himself." Hope added.

"Meh, he made it clear that he hates the army bastards." Gajeel remarked, thinking of Riley's almost venomous tone when he told them about their opposition earlier. "It's not like we can't handle it even if he does turn traitor."

"True enough..."

He continued walking "Besides, you do realize the kid can hear you, right?"

By Gray and Erza's expressions, they clearly hadn't.

* * *

**"It's all right now. I'm sorry it took so long but we've got things covered."**

**"Yeah, so you just keep doing what you can. More importantly, if you see a chance that could change the situation, go for it."**

**"But..."**

**"I told you, we'll be fine. You've been through enough hard times as it were because of us. Now you just promise to hold on and try to change things, okay?"**

* * *

Riley's fist clenched at the end of the memory _'I never promised them a thing in the end but we've all waited for so long...things have to change. I don't know how long I can last. This has to stop.' _He exhaled. _'I guess I could tell them everything. But...not now.'_

"Riley?"

He raised his head in time to see Rebecca standing before him. "...So, you're done?"

Rebecca knew for sure that Gajeel was right, he had heard everything they said. She didn't feel suspicious of the boy anymore, agreeing with Hope and Endymion. It just wasn't fair to feel that way. He was doing this much for them, putting himself in danger after all. "W-we just..."

"Don't bother." He cut her off. "Just know there's more going on than you think. Now come on..."

"Hold it, kiddo."

Riley made a questioning noise as he looked at the iron dragon slayer. But before he could ask, two figures came out of the bushes.

"So there you were."

Edo-Gajeel stepped up with a smirk. Behind him was none other than Edo-Natsu, otherwise known as Natsu Dragion.

"Wow, Edo-Lucy was right...you guys are pretty different." Rebecca couldn't help but remark as she looked at Edo-Gajeel.

"Heh, guess so." The reporter looked at Riley. "So, you found a way to take control of the situation yet?"

"...It was never going to be that easy. But maybe..."

"Situation?" Gray looked from one of them to the other.

Edo-Gajeel cocked his head "What, he didn't tell you? It's why he's keeping that hood up."

Riley spoke before anyone could question this further "That doesn't matter right now. We've got enough to deal with."

"Hey, you're the one who warned me about the attack on Fairy tail a couple of weeks ago." Edo-Natsu recalled. "So you're friends with Gajeel?"

"You can say that." Edo-Gajeel shrugged.

'...Is it just me or is Edo-Natsu a little too calm about this?' Endymion mused.

Rebecca took a moment to repeat the phoenix's query before adding "Did the others tell you about us?"

"A-ah, that's...more or less." He offered at last.

"...That's supposed to be Natsu?" Lucy blinked, bewildered at his quiet tone and almost timid behavior. Even stranger was that he jumped back the second he noticed her.

"What do you mean 'more or less'? You're not making sense." Gray pointed out.

"I-I'm sorry! Please don't yell at me!" Edo-Natsu shied away.

To this, he couldn't respond with anything other than "Hah?"

The rest of the earthland group was just as baffled, especially when the teen looked like he was on the verge of tears, his eyes suspiciously shiny.

Edo-Gajeel rolled his eyes "Somethings never change..."

Riley tilted his head "So your world's Natsu is completely different after all?"

"Uh-huh..." Lucy and Rebecca answered, looking from him to Edo-Natsu.

Seriously, it was so strange to see someone looked so much like their wild and brave friend with such a timid expression. Even when Natsu had been frightened, it was never that much.

"Ah, it's okay. He didn't mean it, we're not going to hurt you," Hope said with a smile.

Edo-Natsu stopped "...So, you're the otherworld's Chris." Hope inwardly sighed, he really wasn't in much of a mood to get into that topic again. Edo-Natsu smiled a bit "You seem nice too...like he was."

"Really?" Rebecca looked curious. "We've heard a couple of things about him but what was he like to you?"

"Oh, he was really good to us. He used to get intense...he even stood up to Lucy-san..." Edo-Natsu threw a look at Earthland Lucy before continuing. "But he still helped me get my car fixed a bunch of times...and he even stopped Jet and the others from picking on me. Sure he could be scary...Sometimes he got mad and hit me for it, telling me to just stand up for myself but I know he meant well."

Gray looked amused "Sounds like an interesting guy." He glanced at Hope with a grin. It would have been nice to meet Chris, he had a feeling they would get along well.

Erza looked at Riley "What situation is he talking about? Should we not ask about this?"

"That's..." The hooded teen bit his lip. "...like I said, we have enough to deal with."

"Is there some way we can help you?" She asked with a concerned look.

Hope tilted his head a little "You're going this far for us, Riley. I'd like to help you if possible. Things with you are obviously more complicated than you're letting on."

"A lot more than you know," Edo-Gajeel added, nodding.

Riley then spoke "Look...I've never been that good with secrets. I'll admit it so I guess you'll find out later. You guys have enough to work on without my problem in the way."

"If you say so..." Lucy said at last. "...but tell us as soon as you can, okay?" Riley looked away but nodded after a moment and she continued. "So, how are you both here?"

"I'm not sure about Natsu but if anyone would know about this place, it's this guy." Riley remarked, sounding exasperated.

Edo-Gajeel laughed "Heh, what can I say? The perks of a job."

"I'm sure." Riley drawled sarcastically.

"Well, anyway, this guy..." Edo-Gajeel placed a hand on Edo-Natsu's head. "...apparently lost his way because he was trying to avoid a monster that almost nailed his car. I had a feeling you might use this place, who else beside you guys would cause that ruckus in the plaza?"

Edo-Natsu blinked, ignoring his embarrassment for surprise "Wait, you guys did that?"

"From the looks of the things you'll find out sooner or later. Well, we better keep moving. Which way was it again, Riley?" Erza looked at the teen.

"Just go straight, we're pretty close now."

Gray took a glance at Edo-Natsu as they left 'Wonder what Ash brain's going to say to this...'

* * *

"Honestly, boy, you make a lousy habit of interfering on my work."

Cameron snorted "Give me a break. The trainees wouldn't have known about your trap, why should I let them get caught up in that?"

Byro had set up a couple of traps as a little experiment near the soldier barracks, a group of unlucky new recruits had been the first to stumble upon one, which left them suspended in a net before almost electrifying them had Cameron not dismantled it.

Riley made use of the ensuing mess to lead the Earthland group inside to the prison area before splitting up into two groups to save Natsu and Wendy.

* * *

Wendy woke up to a lot of noise coming from outside her cell.

Seeing as she couldn't break free of her binds, the girl could only listen and wait. It sounded like people were battling out there. Then a soldier opened the cell's door and hurried towards her.

"Let's see what those damn intruders think of this!" He grunted, making a grab for the keys to Wendy's cuffs.

That was when Riley caught up with him. He struck the man's neck with the pommel of a sword he had grabbed earlier, before moving on to use the keys to free Wendy.

"Um..." Wendy wasn't sure what to think now. Who was this?

"I know you're confused, but it's all right. I'm on your side." Riley informed.

The girl gave him a curious look before her expression grew alarmed as she saw the soldiers charging in "Look out!"

Riley whirled around, both stopping in surprise when the enemies were slammed to the wall by a medium sized rock wyvern which had forced its way through.

Rebecca poked her head in a second later, smiling when she saw the two "Hey Wendy, glad to see you're okay. Relax, Riley's our guide, he's the reason we made it here so quickly." She blinked at a yell coming from outside. "I'll be back in a bit!" She left.

"You guys really do get destructive without breaking a sweat, huh?" Riley mused as he looked around the room, which was needless to say, wrecked.

He had no idea, Wendy couldn't help but think just then. "Ah...um, why are you here?"

"Hm? Ah well, it's like I told them. Sure, eternal magic sound great but I can't stand the thought of people getting sacrificed for it."

Well, that was good to know. But still "Um...that's not quite why I asked."

Riley tilted his head before remembering how his hood had fallen off in the chaos as the wyvern crashed.

He exhaled "...You saw, didn't you?"

Wendy nodded, offering a sheepish look. His tone told her that he really didn't want anyone to know his identity.

"...So you know my other self well?"

"Yeah, that's why I know you're a friend for sure!" Wendy beamed.

Riley smirked in amusement "Come on then, there's a lot to do."

"Okay!"

* * *

Marl approached Happy and Carla on the porch "It feels really nice here after a bath, right?"

"Yeah, it totally does." The first answered, smiling.

"Happy and Carla...who gave you your names?" She sat down.

"Natsu! He's my friend."

"Me too...a friend."

Happy stood "And those friends were captured by the kingdom. We want to save them!"

"I see, so you're going to save humans."

"In Extalia it's wrong to think that way, right? The Exceeds all think they're angels or something..." Carla trailed off. What really scared her was that Nichiya's words turn out to be true and that Wendy and the others would believe that she and Happy betrayed them.

"I think it's a wonderful thing, actually."

She turned quickly, surprised as Marl continued "It doesn't matter if you're humans or exceeds, the shape of the heart that loves is the same."

Happy considered this and found himself agreeing, he liked what Marl was saying.

Carla looked ahead, this merely made her recall what they heard in Extalia again. "My heart...it's been manipulated. I don't know if those feelings are mine or even if those words are mine."

"It is your heart and your words, Carla! Your heart wants to save everyone!" Happy said firmly.

She started "Happy..."

"True, it might seem hard but you'll find your way. You have such a wonderful knight-sama right with you, after all." Marl beamed.

Happy stiffened _'Kn-Knight-sama?'_ He didn't know whether to fall embarrassed or glad and settled for a mixture of both.

"You'll find your own heart," Marl encouraged. "Or maybe you'll see it was there all along."

Carla's eyes went wide as she took those words in. Moments later, without even realizing it a smile settled on her face.

"You finally smiled." Marl noted while Happy cheered up at the sight. "You really are cute."

"You're a strange one, Ma'am." Carla tilted her head a little. "The exceeds all think they're angels or something..."

"Right...The truth is, I used to think like that. But then the queen took 100 children for the Dragon Slayer Extermination Project. Our child was sent to Earthland and we never got to so much as see his face. That's when I realized it. We're not angels or gods, we're just parents." She leaned back. "That's why we don't agree with Extalia's rules. My husband's a little harsh but he feels the same way."

"Kaa! Don't talk about pointless things!" Lucky came at that moment. "What are you both even doing here? Get going already!"

"Dear, isn't that a little too sudden?" Marl frowned.

Lucky would hear none of it, though. He turned to scowl at Happy "What's with you?! Making such a face when being alive is a good thing! Get out already! Nothing's going to happen if you don't get a move on!"

Happy got a determined look as the meaning of those words sank in "Yeah...it's just like you say, Mr.!"

"Che, kids these days don't understand a thing..."

"Carla, we've got to go!" Happy declared, relieved when she nodded back, looking just as resolute as he was.

Within moments, the four exceeds left the house.

"Thanks, both of you!" Happy called as he and Carla waved to Marl and Lucky.

"Have a safe journey!" Marl waved back.

"Never darken my doorstep again!" Lucky shouted.

Happy and Carla ran towards the edge of the island. Both knew exactly what to do, so without hesitation they leaped into the air, unfazed.

"When we arrived at Edolas I was filled with unease..." Happy trailed off.

"Me too," Carla looked ahead. "We're exceeds, the only race born with magic in Edolas. The only reason we couldn't use magic was the unease in our hearts." In a second, their wings were out, glittering and going strong.

Their hearts were set, they were going to help their friends for sure.

* * *

If they had looked back, they would've seen that Marl and Lucky were watching them. Both were in tears, seeming as if they couldn't turn away as they watched Happy and Carla.

"He flies just like you do, Lucky."

"Don't be ridiculous!" The white exceed's shoulders shook. "It's not just in how he flies..."

Marl recalled that awful moment from years ago when their child's egg was taken from them. All their attempts to stop that was prevented by the soldiers and they could do nothing but watch. She remembered trying to reach the egg, now she found herself doing the same.

"I'm so glad...He was raised to be a kind child that treasures his friends." Marl whispered. "Do you think that was his girlfriend?"

"Jeez, you're a 100 years too early to bring a girl home!" Lucky exclaimed.

Marl smiled _'I'm so glad we got to meet you. Good luck.'_

What the couple never told Happy was that they had actually met their child, it was him. As fate would have it, he had found them.

* * *

"You found out their plan?" Erza asked Natsu as she knocked a soldier out. They had just gotten out of the prison area after saving him and were facing the soldiers who found out about their break in. Their comrades had arrived moments ago and now they were all in the thick of the fight.

Natsu kicked a soldier on his end with a flame powered kick before answering "Yeah! I heard that old scientist guy talking about it. They want to take the lacrima they got from Magnolia and ram it against that flying kingdom, Extalia with their cannon. They think it's going to make it rain magic all over Edolas."

"Say what?!"

"That's nuts! What about all the exceeds?" Lucy frowned.

"I guess they're so desperate about this entire thing that they just don't care." Gray remarked, stopping to freeze the floor before him in a straight line and make the attacking soldiers slip and hit each other.

"Well..." Natsu stopped as he heard someone call his name and looked at the sky to see two figures heading towards them. His face lit up "Happy!"

"Carla!" Wendy gave her friend a big hug, beaming.

Though surprised, Carla found herself returning the motion before looking up. "We just..."

Natsu grinned "What took you guys so long, partner?"

For a moment Happy looked like he wanted to cry, but then he grinned back "Sorry, we just ran into some trouble. Good to see everyone's okay."

Carla agreed, stopping when she noticed one person she didn't expect to see there "Riley! What are you..."

"Somehow I ended up being their guide." The hooded teen shrugged. "Glad to see you're all right. So you were in Extalia after all?"

"Yeah, not something I'd like to think about but listen, we found the second lacrima!" Happy informed.

Carla flew up "It's on a floating island. Not too far from Extalia, actually."

"No surprise there," Rebecca quickly told them about the army's plan, needless to say they were just as shocked at the news.

The soldiers were now panicking as they realized how bad the situation was for them.

"Th-they're so strong!"

"Doesn't matter. We have to do this! We're fighting to save Edolas, remember?"

"Yeah, they won't get in the way!"

"Okay, then we know what to do." Erza looked at the group.

"Just leave that lacrima to me." Gajeel cracked a knuckle.

Happy remembered something he overheard in Extalia "So it's true? Dragon slayer magic can reverse that transformation?"

"Yeah, so just get me over there, Shortstuff. I'll handle it."

"Aye Sir!" Happy gave a salute before he began to fly Gajeel up. The latter looked back at the group.

"Take care of this mess. We don't need anymore trouble."

"We know that! Get going already." Gray said, watching them take off before they turn back to the soldiers.

* * *

They weren't the only ones to learn of the plan.

Lily's friend Coco also happened to overhear the talk going on recently. But she couldn't stand for it and so snatched the key of the cannon King Faust was going to use to get things started. She wasted no time in running after that, ignoring her chasers to the best of her ability.

"Get back here, little girl!" Byro snarled. He tossed a bottle at the ground and it burst, releasing a sudden gale that almost knocked her to the ground. "How dare you turn on us?"

"I can't let you do this! He...they're all going to die! How can you be okay with that?" Coco snapped, continuing to run.

"Sacrifices are necessary for the greater goal, brat. Now hand the key over before I really get angry!"

"Forget it!"

Byro grabbed another bottle only to drop it a second later when a laser grazed his arm, not noticing Coco run into the courtyard. "W-what?!"

Coco blinked when a hand was extended to her and stared when she saw it was Rebecca's, blinking curiously at the girl and her newly arrived friends.

"Hey, we heard part of your talk. That's the key needed to get that crazy plan going, right?" She received a nod. "Then stay with us, we're going to help you."

"Really..." Coco's eyes widened when she noticed Riley. "...you're the friend Lily told me about! We've got to do something. They...they..."

Riley steadied her, frowning "Slow down, what is it?"

"If this fails, Lily's going to die!"

Riley froze "What?"

* * *

"This thing's way bigger up close..." Happy stared at the lacrima.

"True, but it just means I better get to work." Gajeel grunted as they landed. He suddenly stopped.

Happy blinked "Gajeel?"

"I thought I heard something..." He trailed off as they walked around, stopping when they reached a small cliff.

Nearby was none other than Lily, fighting seven armored knights who had the crest of Edolas on their backs.

"This guy's with the army, right? What's going on?" Happy looked puzzled while Gajeel raised an eye.

* * *

Coco had basically explained what they already knew, adding that Lily had been sent to defend the lacrima and ensure the plan's success. This only meant that he would surely perish if things went Faust's way.

"That's why I took the key." Coco finished. "I can't let them do this."

"It's okay, we're going to help you and your friend." Lucy added, glancing at Riley.

The girl smiled "Thanks!"

"There you are, traitor..." Byro stormed into the hall then. "...Give the key back right now!"

Natsu stepped in front of Coco while Lucy pulled the girl behind them. "You want it? Then come and get it, if you can!"

"I certainly shall!"

"Oi, oi, you're not going to gang up on him are you?" A man with purple and white hair walked out from behind a pillar with a smirk, his wand at the ready. "Why don't I even the field, hm?"

"Hughes! Good timing, now to take care of the brats..." Byro tossed a liquid which released a tornado.

Wendy stepped up and inhaled, shocking them both by swallowing it in seconds.

"What the...?!"

"Nice, Wendy!" Carla smiled.

A cry brought their attention to Coco, just as she was pushed back by a figure that knocked into her. It was a man in pink armor with blond hair in a pompadour style who had managed to snatch the key.

"I'll be taking this!"

"Try this, Ice Make: Cage!" Gray smirked when his construct trapped the man a second later.

He grunted as he collided with the cage. "Hm, I didn't expect this but very well." He touched the cage with his sword and the bars bent back like they were melted a moment later.

Gray's mouth fell as he ran to block the man's path "What the...?!"

"Surprised? Don't be, my rosa espada allows me to change the properties of whatever it touched." The blond man smirked.

"Yeah? Well, you're not getting away with that key!"

"Hm, so you say. I am Captain Sugarboy. Try and stop me."

"How cid you all get in the castle anyway?" Hughes demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Lucy retorted.

He raised an eye "You're completely over your head, you know. It's sad to have to deal with such fools." With a wave of his hand, a horde of monsters appeared to surround the group. "Now go!"

Erza slashed a monster down. Hope blasted the flying monsters surrounding him with a number of bullets while Wendy took care of the rest. Lucy trapped one with her whip, leaving it to be struck by a rocky lance courtesy of Rebecca. Using one of the weapons he grabbed from a fallen soldier, Riley struck a monster's head with the spear before thrusting it forward and it unleashed a burst of fire that incinerated it. He stopped when the remaining flame suddenly disappeared and saw that Natsu had swallowed it before burning a monster on his end down.

They had gotten separated in the midst of the fight. Natsu and Lucy ended up standing the nearest to Hughes while Erza and Rebecca found themselves face to face with Byro. Gray was still dealing with Sugarboy ahead while left Hope, Wendy, Riley, Coco and Carla faced with the largest amount of monsters that threatened to close in on them.

"Honestly, this is such a waste. How long are you going to take to realize this is pointless?" Hughes directed a monster to fend off Lucy's whip.

"How about never? You're crazy if you think we're giving up now!"

* * *

"Take this!" Byro tossed a liquid that released a massive wave of water. He sneered, thinking his opponents were going to be through soon.

"Re-equip, Sea Empress Armor!" He froze at the voice before seeing Erza slice the wave before her like it was nothing, completely protecting herself.

The redhead paid him no mind though, turning to Rebecca. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah!" She was relieved to see that the girl had used her magic to create a tall pillar of earth which she used to avoid the attack. "Now to keep things going..." Rebecca lowered the pillar before running to attack Byro.

The scientist scowled "Why you...Take this!"

He tossed a liquid which released an electrical burst directly at Rebecca. The girl merely smirked "Terra Shield!"

A bronze spell circle flashed and she was surrounded by rocks that formed a circular shield that protected Rebecca perfectly. "Not so fast, here you go!" With a wave of her hand, Rebecca sent some of the rocks at the scientist, who fended it off with a gale liquid.

* * *

"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

While this took out a number of the monsters, more took their place in a manner of seconds. This merely made Hughes smirk "See? It's amazing what we can do with magic, right?"

"People are already having trouble with magic and here you guys are hoarding it like no tomorrow." Riley said coolly.

"Yeah, so much for trying to save Edolas!" Lucy stated, scowling.

"Oh but we are. You'll see soon enough. Just after we're through with you." Hughes replied, unfazed.

"This guy's really starting to get on my nerves..." Natsu muttered.

"Mine too, but with all those monsters blocking the way this is all we can do." Carla pointed out.

"...Actually, there is one thing that should help." He and Carla looked at Hope then.

The teen's eyes were on Natsu "This one of the times we can get destructive, don't you think?"

For a moment, the dragon slayer seemed confused. Then a smirk grew on his face as he understood "Yeah! Couldn't agree more, let's hit it!"

Ignoring their friends' confusion, the two ran towards the monsters heading their way. Hughes raised an eye "Oh? What's this, are you giving in after all?"

"Hardly." Hope said before they began casting spells. An aura of light surrounded him while Natsu was bathed in fire. A red spell circle appeared, shortly followed by a gold one. Then they disappeared, leaving a larger orange circle that flashed over the courtyard.

"What is this?"

"Meteor Storm!" Natsu and Hope called in tandem before a great of hail of flaming energy blasts descended on the battlefield. The combination served to wipe out plenty of the monsters and injure Hughes too.

"I-I can't believe this..." He managed, cringing.

Endymion closed his eyes, sounding pleased as he said 'It worked like a charm.'

"Was that just a..." Lucy began.

Erza smiled "A unison raid. Incredible."

"Amazing..." Wendy trailed off while the rest watched, agreeing with her.

"Nice work, you guys!" Rebecca smiled.

Natsu and Hope exchanged a look before smiling "Perfect!"

"I said this before but you're a genius, Hope! It worked just like you said." Natsu remarked, remembering their earlier training.

"Thanks but this is a team effort, remember?"

"Yeah!"

Sugarboy and Byro were no less shocked. "How did they do that?" The first asked.

"This is why those two are one of our guild's best teams." Gray smirked, taking advantage of this to swipe the key.

"No!" Sugarboy recoiled when Gray froze the key. "Hold on, you need that to save your friends! If you use the cannon to blast the lacrima, it'll turn them back."

"Really?" The desperation in his enemy's tone was clear and it made Gray's decision a lot easier. Not that he really thought about it for long.

"In that case..."

Sugarboy's eyes widened when he smashed the key to pieces "Why would you do that?!"

"Gee, let's think, so you can't have it?" Gray drawled. "I can take care of this key deal easily. We've got things covered, you're the ones that are in trouble!"

* * *

"Iron Dragon's Club!"

Lily started and turned around to see Gajeel knocking a knight away with one strike. "You're..."

"Yo, you're that Panther Lily guy the kiddo told us about, huh?"

Happy blinked "Wait, Riley knows about this guy?"

"Yeah, he's been spying on the army for a long time apparently." Gajeel replied, ignoring the other exceed's confusion.

"Then why are you so relaxed? What do you know about him?"

"He said not to bring this up around the army if we can help it but he's not all for this crazy plan anymore than we are."

Now this Happy didn't expect "Really?"

"...Yeah, if I could have done more to stop this I would have." Lily replied after a moment. "So Riley's been helping you after all?"

"Aye! He got everyone in the castle to save Natsu and Wendy. The others are fighting to stop them right now. We're here to take care of the lacrima." Happy explained. "But why were those guys attacking you? Aren't you on the same side?"

"Hardly." Lily kicked a helmet of a nearby knight aside, revealing the armor to be hollow. "Those are just empty suits Cameron controls with his items. He wanted them here as a fail safe to ensure no one gets in the way of this stage. Seeing as I've been trying to delay it, they deem me an enemy and attack. Not that it really matters anyway."

"Those guys should be getting that key now." Gajeel crossed his arms.

"Yeah, maybe they got it now!" Happy added.

Lily exhaled, his expression puzzling them "Normally, I'd consider this good news but..."

"But?" Gajeel prompted, this definitely wasn't good.

"I aimed to find some way to damage the dragon chain cannon. I couldn't get my hands on the key and even worse, I heard Faust found a way to activate it and proceed with the plan even without the key." Lily grimaced.

Gajeel scowled while Happy gulped "Oh man this definitely got a lot worse..."

* * *

_Aaaand, cut!_

_Yeah, I think I'll just end it at this point. Otherwise it'll just be too long. Anyway, the next chapter will have the conclusion of these battles and saving Extalia, also the reveal of the new way to activate the cannon. Oh and everything about Riley will become clear after they stop the lacrima, it just seemed like the best timing. So, either the next chapter or the one after it, not quite sure. _

_Ah well, thanks to everyone reading my work. I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review just telling me what you think of either of my stories, if there's something you like or don't like, something you don't get or something that I missed. I know I still have a long way to go but I'm always looking to improve and hearing some opinions would really help._

_With that out of the way, later! _


End file.
